Power or Curse
by AllenWalker4ever
Summary: Welcome to Domino High, and every student has a superpower or a super curse! The high school is divided, between being able to use every inch of your power for good, or using every inch of strength to live. Thief, Death, Puppy, and Puzzleshipping. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

"Bitch."

"Motherfucker."

"Arsehole."

"What the fuck man, are you British?"

"Shut your yapping, you bloody bint! Shut your face before I make you."

"It's shut up, not shut your face! You're far too British to be cool!"

"Fucking wanker! How dare you call me that, tart? You're the one who needs mental help, damned Yankee!"

Ryou laughed a little. At least it seemed that his brother was no better off. High school was tough for everyone, but especially so for Bakura and Ryou. They were from the U.K. and needless to say their accents either bought Ryou love or made Bakura a target.

"I'd like it if you shoved your ego up your punk ass!" Bakura finished, looking rather irritated that the gang member he'd been riled up against had given in so quickly.

"Calm down, we haven't even gotten to the first bell yet!" Ryou protested. He really wished his brother would wind down and be more carefree, but obviously that wasn't happening any time soon.

"Well he was a bloody cunt."

Ryou couldn't really deny that. The tall man had been calling them queer for their outlandish long white hair. Well Bakura really didn't have to be so mean about it, he could just take it laying down…

Since when has Bakura ever taken anything laying down? Ryou sighed.

Ever since they had gotten full use of their "powers" life had been like this. Bakura couldn't make new friends, Ryou was too shy to talk to anyone but his brother and not even him sometimes. Just because their powers had matured. Bakura was all powerful… while Ryou had an unforgivable curse.

Bakura could control various things and read minds. Telekinesis, mind control, mind reading, soul swapping, that sort of thing. It was the most powerful thing Bakura could've gotten. It was a true superpower out of superpowers. It was the number one most desirable power. And Bakura hadn't even figured it out to the full extent.

While Ryou had the least desirable curse. He was cursed to 'die' every night until he could not keep breathing anymore. Each time it was harder to start breathing again… Even with this, Ryou wouldn't admit that he was jealous of his brother. He couldn't be jealous of him.

Bakura had life tough with his power. Most people had just been scared that he'd use it. Most people then knew that he would in fact use it and would no longer get close. Ryou sighed. People liked him and showered him in sympathy and love.

Yet Ryou wanted his brother to have to die every night instead... instead of being able to read minds and control objects half way across the room. But Ryou couldn't voice these thoughts. They were too wrong for him even to consider. For him to want his brother in his place and him in his brother's place.

Ryou already knew that Bakura would be friendless. Ryou knew he'd have the most devoted and kind friends in the school. He already knew this, but he wanted to switch places with his brother.

The guilt from thinking this sort of thing almost choked him. His curse, his brother had always helped with his curse. He'd made Ryou tea and breakfast everyday since it'd started, used his powers to calm his breathing and even do some of his chores if the night had been especially rough.

Sometimes Ryou wanted to be, just physically be, Bakura. Even though Bakura could swap their souls, he'd also swap their powers and curses at the same time, so the notion was rather stupid, but Ryou just wanted to look like his brother, who was so much stronger than him. There was no way Bakura could take his place, even if they swapped bodies.

Ryou turned his mind back to what he was doing. Oh yeah, he had classes. Most everyone here at Domino High had some sort of power, so the classes were made for training and controlling those powers. And then everyone else who didn't have a power, had a curse, and attended classes on how to survive their irremovable curse and how to live around it.

It was mostly for prevention of the making of super villains. Already, Ryou was scared that his brother was being watched for that very thing. With someone so utterly powerful, wouldn't becoming a super villain be so terribly easy? With his temper and hatred of people, Ryou had to admit that his brother might have truly founded suspicions against him.

First class of the day. Ryou sighed. Maybe he wouldn't be so scared if he had a class with Bakura, one at least. But he didn't have a power to restrain, he had a curse to survive. Sometimes he didn't think he would be able to fully recover from the last night's attack before he settled down for another.

He tugged open the door to his classroom nervously. He certainly wasn't late, but he wasn't early either. Ryou was greeted with many cheery faces and loud batter. Good, something to drown out his thoughts with.

"…Hey, 'sup! Freshman!" A friendly voice greeted him. And now it had started. Everyone would start to love him and cuddle him. Ryou smiled brilliantly, despite how he felt inside.

"It's nice to meet you! My name is Ryou Touzuko. I hope we can all be friends." Of course we will be… Ryou continued smiling.

All of the girls in the classroom jumped out of their seats and surrounded him with questions and their obvious adoration.

"Please please please can I be your girlfriend?" One pleaded.

"NO! He wants to go out with me, you slut!" yelled another.

"Now, now girls. I am sorry, but my brother will kill me if he finds out I fancy one of you." He knew he was an obvious flirt, and he didn't really mind that they all squeed and giggled at his every word.

The first person he spoke to when he entered the room crossed his arms. "The transfer student is our friend now. I called him before you ridiculous girls." He said, in… a Brooklyn accent?

"Yes, yes." Ryou flashed another sweet smile. "I really should sit down over there. Excuse me, misses."

Ryou plodded over to his new seat. Everyone here already knew most of each other just from their middle school. Ryou had been a 1000+ miles away from them. If he friended one, he friended their friends as well. Instantaneous popularity without even having to try… it didn't even matter if he'd be friends with all of them in a few bare seconds normally.

Convenient to find out who could be a possible candidate for a friend for Bakura. He did this at every school. Find loads of friends, just to see which ones would even tolerate his brother in the slightest.

"The name's Joey, by the way. I'm half Japanese, so my full name's Jounouchi, but I'm used to being called Joey now all my buds. Last name's Wheeler, by the way."

"Ah…" Ryou smiled. Kind, but rather stupid and irritating. This type of person wouldn't let Bakura destroy their morals by constant taunting, and would react in anger and indifference. A good friend for Ryou, then…

"So you have a brother? Is he cute like you, or is he nothing like?" Joey stared at the teacher with his mouth slightly open. He probably didn't even know what he was saying right then.

And holy shit did that teacher have huge breasts. Ryou politely looked away, which is more than could be said for Joey. He was full out staring at them.

"My name is Mai Valentine. Call me nothing but Mai and I won't wring any of your necks! Okay, so today's lesson…" Ryou stopped paying attention.

She wasn't the type of person Bakura would stand to be in the same room with. As usual, Bakura fit no one in the room.

"…So if everyone could come up and show me your curse?"

Ryou had a miniature panic attack. He didn't want to fall asleep only to die, in front of an entire class.

"And if your curse takes a while to manifest, then get started early. First up… We have Atem-" Mai was cut off by a snort.

"Name's Yami. Call me nothing but and I won't report you to the principal for having inappropriate clothing." A wildly spiky haired boy called from the back. Mai glared.

"Your curse, then Yami?" She prodded. He walked up to the front of the room and pulled out a pyramid hanging from around his neck.

He pressed it to his lips, and his soul got sucked out of his body. The body screamed, starting to try and destroy things, anything. Mai shoved the pyramid back to his mouth in a fluid movement.

"Destruction, loss of soul. How fitting." Mai snorted. She tapped her attendance list again before looking at the next name.

Ryou knew that it would be a long time before he was called. He waited out a few others, most sprouting tentacles or acne from strange locations. And then it was Joey's turn.

He grinned at the class before his facial features melted right off. Mai screamed loudly as his unconscious body hit the floor. His face stayed that way, melted and ageless.

And then it reverted. Ryou squeezed his eyes shut. People could force their curses to appear? Ryou had no control over his… He guessed that was what he was going to learn.

Almost everyone he knew had already gone by now… he appeared to by one of the last to have to get up and demonstrate. Oh… if Mai had screamed for Joey, what would she do if she saw him start to die? He didn't want to have to demonstrate.

"Ryou Touzuko? If you're ready, please come up and demonstrate your curse."

He walked up and bowed. "I apologize for the length of time…" Good thing he had his knockout pills. Or else it'd take him forever to actually fall asleep. He took the pill with a sour expression, closing his eyes. It didn't take as long as he thought, as he drifted off to unconsciousness.

The choking started.

Mai started screaming as he clawed at his neck, crying for air. His eyes rolled back and Ryou started screaming himself. The entire classroom jumped up in terror.

His face must be turning blue, his fingers were numb, he felt like he was being crushed by a heavy force…

The door slammed open. "WHAT THE FUCK RYOU? I KNOW THE RULES STATE YOU HAVE TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR CURSE BUT YOU COULD'VE MADE ME BE THERE!" Bakura screamed.

The air simmered with energy as Ryou felt the comforting presence of his brother's powers. It helped him come back to consciousness. It made him to open his eyes and fight the curse. The pressure on his throat forcibly eased up, as he came back to consciousness. Mai stared openly at the brothers.

Bakura ran over to Ryou, helping him up into a better breathing position. He glared at the rest of the class openly.

"I'm sorry…" Ryou panted. "It wasn't even that bad an attack."

Bakura's now red eyes made Ryou shut his mouth quickly. "You never make him show you that ever again, not without me around." He hissed.

Mai nodded mutely before suggesting, "Why don't you take him to the nurse's office… What's your name?"

Ryou coughed a little. "'Kura-kun, introduce yourself kindly to Mai."

Bakura narrowed his eyes. "My name is Bakura Touzuko, and Ryou is my little brother."

It wasn't kind, but it was the best Ryou knew that the albino would give the rest of them. He smiled. "Thank you, 'Kura."

Bakura looked away and snorted, before slinging Ryou over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walking out of the room.

* * *

><p>Bakura knew when he'd heard his brother screaming that something was wrong. He didn't think that Ryou would've been stupid enough to display his curse without him around.<p>

But no, of course Ryou had to go and be tough. Bakura snorted as he walked back into his class. He would be in a lot of trouble for that, he knew it. But no one should have to force his little brother in letting something attempt to kill him.

The classroom door was far too easy to open, in his opinion. The teacher glared at him openly. Not only had he interrupted his class but Bakura had even run out on them and ignored their calls when he'd heard the screaming.

Bakura knew they wouldn't understand. He knew he'd be a load of trouble. He honestly didn't care.

"Care to explain where you've been?" The teacher snapped. Bakura flipped him off and sat down lazily into his chair.

"How dare you address the teacher like that! Mr. Sato is a good teacher!" A short boy with tri-colored hair spoke up. His bangs were blonde, the rest a brightly colored black and purple mess from where Bakura was sitting.

"If he's going to be an arse for my behavior, then I have every right." Bakura put his feet on the chair in front of him, relaxing into his chair.

"You didn't even ask to excuse yourself! What did you even run out for, the bathroom?" He shot back with even more spite. Bakura frowned. Was he the only one who heard the screaming? His brother had been dying, for fuck's sake!

"I heard my little brother screaming, or are all of you DEAF?" He shouted, hopping up from his lazy position in the chair.

The kid froze. "Your little brother is one of the cursed?" He asked tentatively.

"Yeah, got a problem with it?" Bakura sneered. The kid raised up his hands in defense of himself.

"I didn't think- I'm sorry… we're all used to the screaming by now. You don't come from around here, do you?"

"No." Bakura snorted, returning to his seat. The teacher decided it was time for him to take action. He tapped the board harshly.

"Attention. In this class you are here to learn all about your power and help us discover how you will best help society in general. If we could all continue with demonstrations of your unique powers, I'd appreciate it." He said sternly.

Hm… demonstrations, huh? Bakura snorted. It must almost be his turn. For some reason he didn't want to show off all he could do. He should underplay his powers, hide them. Maybe then he wouldn't be so intimidating… It was what Ryou always wanted him to do, but he usually thought honesty was the best policy. Maybe Ryou was right for once.

Maybe someone would want to be weak Bakura's friend. Bakura was far too strong to have equals anyways.

"Okay, Yugi. It's your turn to display your power. Please step up." The teacher directed. Apparently they were only on Mutou, then. Bakura had some time to wait.

Yugi smiled and the whole room was filled with the golden light of his transformation. A screen appeared behind him, showing what… stats? Like for a video game?

"Anyone care to play against the 'King of Games'?" Yugi said, almost in another, entirely different voice.

Bakura smirked. So this one's power was basically being a genius, plotting out moves and quick understanding. Yet it was limited to… games. It required a transformation into the state, however, which probably was physically exhausting.

Everything faded back, and Yugi looked absolutely exhausted from using his powers for barely that. Bakura smirked. Of course he was right, when wasn't he?

"Thank you, Yugi. Next is… Anzu?" The teacher directed the girl up to the front of the classroom. She gave both Yugi and the teacher a charming smile.

She disgusted Bakura. He sneered at her. He bet her powers were really weak.

Bakura zoned out for the next few. Anzu could control a bit of time, making things speed up. But only on certain objects, of a certain caliber and density. In other words, she could barely speed up time on pebbles. Weak. Someone named Tristan had bursts of super strength, again lame. A Miho girl was lucky. A Otogi person had powers of seduction, which absolutely disgusted Bakura even if he did have to have some respect for the man. He didn't even have to try to look good. Bakura had 20 mins tops to make himself look presentable.

A Serenity girl had the ability to have laser beams shot from her eyes and even though it was powerful, she couldn't see otherwise. If she wasn't shooting lasers out of her eyes, she was blind. Powerful and weak at the same time. She probably hadn't even seen her family other than out of the corner of her eyes.

"Bakura Touzuko." The teacher announced with annoyance. Everyone looked eager to watch as his powers didn't match up with his behavior. He wanted to show them, show them he was twice as strong as they ever would be, that he kept his little brother alive every night when he was screaming to die. But no one wanted to see Bakura strong.

They wanted to see him weak, someone they could relate to and be just like them.

He walked up to the front of the room. He wanted to cry out from frustration, but he held it in. People wanted to see him fail, wanted him to hide his true self, then he would.

He closed his eyes, faked an expression that made him look like he was really trying, and he let a cup wobble slowly into the air, as he really had to try. He sucked in a large gasp, and the cup crashed down after only a few inches of air.

He pretended to pant afterwards. They all looked happy, like the albino had proved them right and that he wasn't strong. Even the teacher looked satisfied. Bakura wanted to cry more than ever. They looked as if they were bragging. See? They said, He isn't strong anymore. We could take him easy!

He walked back to his chair, sitting down. Everyone believed him. Why did it hurt so much?

* * *

><p>Ryou went back to class and everyone beamed at him. There was pity in the girl's eyes and respect in the boys.<p>

"Hey Ryou! Your curse must mean you're super tough to fight that! I just have my face melt occasionally and pass out! But no, you are cursed to start to die! I can't believe it, you look so soft and gentle!" Joey cheered.

"Thanks, Joey. What did Bakura say while I was out? I wasn't entirely there when he was talking to the teacher."

"You mean that guy with the white hair who looked exactly like you? Yeah, just that you weren't allowed to fall asleep without him there. I can see why he freaked though, I really thought you were going to die."

So do I, Joey. I always think it'll win every time I fall asleep. I think it will win over me and I'll succumb to the darkness. Ryou smiled back.

"I'm sorry for the commotion, I didn't mean to cause such a fuss." He said. Mai looked at him with a smile. Joey grinned.

"Don't worry, it's almost lunch and I can introduce you to all my friends! They're super cool! Wait until you meet them all." Of course. More people to evaluate to see who had the potential to tolerate Bakura. Certainly no one else with a curse would, not with his powers.

Hopefully Joey's friends wouldn't all be hopeless.

They walked to the lunchroom with Joey's mouth going nonstop. Ryou was surprised to notice that Yami followed them silently. Joey followed Ryou's gaze before quickly answering his question.

"Yami's boyfriend sits with us. It's too sad that they can't get past themselves. I swear, matching hairstyles? And they can't even kiss, unless Yami wants to get his soul sucked out."

"Oh… that's too bad then. Say, do you mind once I get to the lunch room if I can find my brother?"

"Oh yeah, that Bakura guy!" Joey confirmed. "He scares me but I suppose you are family. Sure, go talk to him if you want."

Ryou smiled. Joey was nice, and Yami didn't seem bad either. But he highly doubted Bakura would get along with any of them.

The so called gang that Ryou was introduced to consisted of only a few people, but tables were long, so more people managed to squeeze themselves in.

Yami's boyfriend was a sweetheart named Yugi, who was a power holder. Then there was Joey's close friend Tristan. They both apparently came from Japan, along with another girl named Anzu. However when Ryou asked her name, she referred to herself as Tea Gardener instead of her Japanese name Anzu. Apparently they were interchangeable.

There was a Ryuji Otogi, who referred to himself as Duke Devlin when asked, for no apparent reason to Ryou. There was also Miho, who was sweet and a darling girl who had a huge apparent crush on Tristan. Serenity, Joey's sister, apparently, had a Japanese name also. Shizuka, it seemed. It surprised him how many Japanese kids there were here. Birds of a feather flock together, huh…

Ryou introduced himself quickly and painlessly. "I'm Ryou Touzuko."

"Touzuko? There's a Touzuko in our classes! He's a real asshole, is he your brother?" Tea exclaimed after hearing his last name. "He looks a lot like you too! I bet you two are brothers!"

"We're twins." Ryou explained. And that they were, but if anyone asked they'd merely go as brothers. A whole 12 minutes made them apart. And anyway, they were supposed to be triplets, but the third died when they were little. Being called 'twins' reminded them that they had lost their brother.

Akefia had been normal, but he had been precious to the both of them. Once he died, Bakura went out of control. Because Bakura blamed himself for Akefia's death. He certainly hadn't killed their brother, but Bakura felt somehow responsible for the oldest triplet's death.

"Oh, that's cool. Fraternal or Identical? I'm guessing Identical, from how you look!" Yugi said with a happy smile. Ryou smiled back.

"Actually, we're fraternal." Ryou corrected. "We have very different features that most people don't go and look at."

Their noses, for instance. Ryou's was upturned and snubby, while Bakura's was longer and gave off a more regal sort of appearance. Their eyes were another feature of theirs that was difference. His were rounded, while Bakura had almond eyes.

Their cheekbones were different places. Bakura's were high, but his cheeks were full so it didn't give him a hollowed look. Ryou's however, were slightly lower on his face and gave him a childish appearance.

Ryou's eyebrows were a little misshapen and thin, while Bakura's were regally arched and slightly thicker.

Their eye color was the most vibrant of all of their changes. Bakura's eyes were a reddish brown, almost a magma pool on his face. They were intense, and they only started to look more of a natural brown color if he was really happy. Ryou's were a light and bright oak brown, which was more hazelnut than brown when he was in a good mood.

"I guess there are obvious differences in personality." Joey glanced over towards the table that Bakura was sitting at alone. As usual. It seemed like the usual crowd had abandoned him.

Ryou frowned. "Why can't he ever make his own friends?"

Yugi looked at him curiously. "He doesn't have friends? That's a terrible thing to have to go through!" Yami nodded in agreement. Ryou sighed.

"Every year it's the same! He is asked to show off and of course he does! Can't he stuff his ego into his body and not let it seep out once in a while? It's not like he's impressing anybody." Ryou felt terrible for saying this but he couldn't stop himself. He got up, excused himself from the table, and stormed over to his brother.

"What, Ryou?" Bakura absently mindedly removed the ice cubes in his drink. Monster energy, Ryou was sure of it. It smelled of sugar and caffeine.

Where he got it, Ryou had no clue. They owned absolutely no monsters and neither did anyone they knew. Ryou decided to speak up. "Where'd you get that?"

Bad intro. He knew it but he had to start a conversation before demanding it go somewhere.

"I picked it up. Vending machines, and all that." In other words, it was stolen. Ryou gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Why the hell are you sitting alone? Why couldn't you stop bragging about-"

"Ryou, I DID! I did this time! I hid it. Ask any of my classmates over there. They don't think I can do anything." Ryou froze up. Bakura almost sounded… hurt? But his classmates shouldn't even have anything against him… what was going on here?

Maybe… Ryou had been blind all this time. No, it couldn't be. Whenever he'd asked they always said that he was a show off, that he was scary because he was too powerful, but if Bakura hadn't shown off, then why didn't they gradually learn to like him? Ryou knew it had to be Bakura's powers that scared off other kids. If it was Bakura himself then Bakura would be alone… forever.

"I'm sorry… Just keep trying this time! I'm sure someone will realize you're worthy of their time-" Ryou was interrupted.

"They should be worthy of my time. I'm better than they are." Ryou winced as Bakura took a giant bite of his sandwich and chewed it with a snobbish look on his face.

There was nothing else he really could say… Ryou gave up and walked back over to Joey and his friends. "He's being stubborn."

"I think you should really stay away from him… He's probably dangerous." Miho suggested, before Tristan clarified for her that they were twins. She blushed bright red. "I'm sorry, Ryou! I didn't mean anything by it!"

Of course… Ryou smiled and forgave her in an instant. Maybe if Bakura smiled more, then he'd make more friends.

* * *

><p><strong>A year and a semester later...<strong>

* * *

><p>Ryou looked at the familiar school. He smiled brightly. Bakura scowled somewhere behind him. They were back from winter break already. They were both sophomores, and halfway through 10th grade already.<p>

Ryou couldn't say he'd had much improvement in many of his classes other than his core ones. Bakura was still failing every class until the last minute, somehow managing top marks on his midterms and finals and passing with an A in some type of miracle.

Bakura was still hiding his powers. He didn't say much, he did however make it very clear that the school was very much under his control and always would be until he graduated. The teachers turned a blind eye to most of his activities there. Smoking in the bathroom, say. Or on the roof, which was off-limits to the students after one of the students had jumped off in a blind fit of his curse.

Ryou had managed to befriend the entire school. Everyone knew him, his name, his curse, and to stay the fuck away from his brother. Even the usual bullies knew that they would have to stay away from him and everything ran smoothly under Bakura's justice system. Those who disobeyed didn't come back quite the same.

Ryou watched Yugi give a quick kiss on the cheek to Yami before they split for their classes. How cute… even with Tea's amiable attempts to go out with one of the two, (she didn't seem to be picky about which one) they were still going strong.

Yami waved to Bakura and they started to walk together to their first class of the new year. 2011 seemed like a far away mystery, but here it was, 2011 already.

"Have you heard of the new kids? One of 'em's Pyrokinetic and the other seems to be Hydrokinetic, or whatever. Apparently they're transfers from Egypt." Yami mentioned, mainly so they could small talk on their way across the snowy campus. Ryou lit up. New kids!

They never had new kids! Maybe, just maybe, could his heart even dare to hope…? Bakura might find a friend in one of them! Yami didn't seem to know why he was so excited but he grinned back.

"Both powers, so we won't be seeing much of them, but I'm sure I can introduce them to you at lunch. Yugi saw them earlier and said they looked rather eccentric though. I think what he really meant to saw was bat shit insane, but… He's far too nice to say that about anyone." Yami's cheeks turned a little pink at the thought of his cute little boyfriend.

Ryou smiled. Insane was good. Bakura couldn't get along with normal people at all, so insane was prolly right up the boy's alley.

"I can't wait to see them-" And Ryou's wish was granted. Two noticeably tan boys were standing in the snow glaring openly at each other. One's hands were coated in fire, the other's were filled with snowballs.

Ryou stopped and openly gaped at the two of them. To be able to control their powers to such an extent… The only other person he'd seen to developed in the power region was Bakura, and Bakura was going against the school rules and practicing his powers alone. Since the school couldn't learn his true powers, he had no other option really.

The one covered in snow and was laughing rather sadistically had spiky blonde hair and dark maroon eyes. Maybe maroon was stretching the color. It was a dark purple with red. He was tall, slim, and had a slightly muscular chest. He was wearing a black hoodie, tan cargo pants that hung dangerously low on his hips, and Ryou blushed just by looking at him.

The other one held the title of far more attractive, however. Even if his heart rate didn't speed up like with the other brother, the one with fire coating his hands had a confident smirk and the most beautiful body Ryou'd ever seen.

His eyes were amethyst, his hair a softer platinum blonde that flowed barely to his shoulders, and his figure was shorter and leaner than his brother's. And his skin was a bronze shade only slightly darker than the golden accessories that adorned his ears, his arms, and his neck. He was wearing a black undershirt and a lavender colored hoodie that had golden chains hanging on the front. He was also wearing a pair of modest black cargos not unlike his brothers.

Ryou couldn't stop staring.

"That's them, then. That one does look dangerous." Yami motioned to the one with the fire coating his hands. "The other one doesn't seem to be displaying his powers but he also seems pretty psychotic."

Ryou nodded in mute agreement. How did these two manage to be so attractive? Maybe it was because they were so foreign in the white and grey backdrop.

Yami forcibly tugged Ryou the rest of the way to class, even though Ryou wanted to run back and watch the two play in the snow, or whatever they'd been doing when Ryou had seen them. Ryou felt a little guilt that he felt attracted to the one with the carefree smirk and the eyes that promised loss and pain for the triumphed.

'I wonder what Bakura will think of them…' Ryou pressed his pale lips together in thought. They seemed eccentric, for lack of a better word. Yugi had summed them up quite well, actually.

"I can't wait to see if I have Mr. Mitarashi again this semester. He was good at figuring out which object I'd accidentally kissed and getting my soul back into my body." Yami filled up the awkward silence the only way he could think of, meaningless conversation. He was acting like an idiot he knew, but he didn't want to admit it.

"Mr. Mitarashi was a good teacher, yes, but he was too kind to me. He never wanted to me experiment with my curse, even if Bakura was there for moral support." Ryou smiled gently. The man was a good man, but Ryou needed a tougher teacher to learn how to fight back.

Yami ruffled his hair. "Stay strong. You'll need it."

* * *

><p>As much as Bakura loved new kids, he didn't. He didn't like them interrupting the balance he'd created with his precious time. But they would reduce everything to chaos and more effort would have to be put into the whole thing. After a week the new kid stops being new and then no one would want to talk to them outside of their social circle.<p>

Bakura liked ruling over the school with an iron fist. If he had nothing but that, he'd probably be happy. But he wanted to be up at the top, not at the bottom. Always up at the top.

He casually put up his feet in his new desk. He never lasted with a teacher long. No matter what he said or did they wouldn't like him anyways. Just like with every student. Even the ones who thought his brother was an angel and could in no way be related to anything rude or mean hated him.

"Welcome back. We're proud to say we have new students here at Domino High!" The teacher cheered. What was her name again? Mrs. Hinata, or something.

The new students walked in and Bakura rolled his eyes. Of course. Tanned skin, beautiful exotic looks, everything he'd heard they'd be. He tried to ignore them, but the girls had already started fawning over them. Or more precisely one of them.

"Isn't he just the cutest thing, standing there with that innocent smile right behind is big old brother! Ha ha ha…" Girls were annoying. Bakura hated females for all they were worth. Men weren't much better, really.

All the people of the world should die. Except for Bakura. Bakura would then rule everything with an iron fist.

He watched the taller one glare at everyone who was talking before starting to introduce himself and his brother. "My name is Marikuu Ishtar. And this bitchy one is my little bro Malik." He pointed with his thumb towards his look-alike. "But mini-me is a grade ahead and will kick your asses on all the exams, so don't even think about saying anything."

Malik cleared his throat. "And this douche is stupid as hell, so don't bother with him and his overly large ego. Do we need to demonstrate our powers now, or later?"

The teacher sighed at the vulgar language, but even she was amused by the two of them. Ugh, they were like Ryou. Everyone wanted to be their friend already. Bakura felt a bit of jealousy form in his heart, but he smashed it to bits before he had to acknowledge he was a bit jealous.

"Sure, Malik. Why don't you two do just that? We usually all demonstrate freshman year, but as you're new transfers, it'd be nice if the class knew them." The teacher said, sugary sweet.

Bakura watched in mild interest as Marikuu gathered water from the air and played with it, making it dance around the room. Then he dumped it on the floor in a splat. And picked it back up again, sprinkling it over the class. Everyone laughed at his childish display before Malik shoved his showoff brother aside.

Bakura paid more attention this time, mainly because this one actually had brains in his skull and the other seemed unsurprisingly dimwitted. From what he'd seen so far anyway.

Malik's fingertips lit on fire. Hm… opposite powers. Sorta like him and Ryou, Bakura might've even stretched. Only Bakura had the ultimate power, while Ryou had the ultimate curse.

Malik finished off his show by eating the fire and letting his stay lit in his throat, making it glow red from the inside in a gruesome way before swallowing and putting it out. His entire body wasn't immune to the fire, Bakura was guessing. His finger tips were slightly singed and he made a face as if he'd been slightly burned by his show afterwards.

Bakura didn't know why this made him like the other brother even more than Marikuu, but it did. Bakura almost let himself smile lazily watching the Malik stick out his tongue at Marikuu. But he caught himself.

He couldn't open up to anyone. They'd get hurt. He didn't need friends if all he was going to do was get mad and use his powers recklessly around them. He always did… He'd never had someone talk to him for more than 4 minutes without him subtly using his powers to convince them to leave before he snapped and used them in a more vicious fashion.

Mariku took the empty seat next to Bakura's. All the seats around Bakura were empty. Everyone wanted to stay one desk away, and there the only open spots were the 5 that surrounded his. He even had a window seat, so he was on the edge of a row leaving off another 3 possible desk spots that would've been vacated. And of course the seat in front of Bakura had soon been filled with Malik.

"Hey, pretty boy." Oh fuck why had Bakura said that? He'd just been thinking it, but it wasn't supposed to come out. Whatever… "Move. That seat is reserved for my feet."

Mariku growled at the whole thing. Bakura resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn't even bullying the kid, he was telling him to move in a rude but civilized manner. Bakura fucking ran the school. What he said went. That was just how it goes.

"Mariku, Mariku… I'm not a dog on a leash, I can bite back." Malik patted his brother on the arm before addressing Bakura. "Well if that's the case, why don't you move one seat back, so that your feet can have their own spot? I wasn't aware that your feet had some sort of disease that makes them want to enroll in a high school; must be really miserable."

"You're not funny. You do know that, right? I'll let you know when I'm insulted." Bakura smirked back. Oh he loved a challenge.

"Yes, because it's just my goal in life to find ways to insult you, fluffy. Now turn around, get over your PMS, and I'll let your feet rest on the back of my chair if they must." Malik smiled brightly. Bakura huffed.

He admitted that he'd lost. Entirely, and utterly lost. Mariku snickered when Bakura didn't throw a comeback. Bakura gave him the stink eye.

"So for improvement exams… Bakura, if you'd please come up and show us the results of your supposed winter break studying." Mrs. Hinata said. Oh dear god how much he hated her at the moment.

"Yeah, yeah. Improvement." An improvement exam was to see how much you'd gotten better of a period of time. Winter and spring break were favorites for these to pop up.

What had he gotten done on his last improvement exam? Did the cup hover 6 or 7 inches, and move back and worth, or was it only 5? Bakura decided if it could hover 8 inches and move back and forth, it was enough of an improvement. His 'weak' telekinesis powers were sickening, but he had to keep up the façade because it was too late to change and say it had all been a joke.

As funny and true that was… Ryou would hate him if he caused a scene.

He pretended to focus really hard and almost as easily as a flick of his finger did the cup wobble up and side to side. It went as far away as the edge of the teachers desk before settling back down with a clang. If anything, the acting was harder than that.

"Teach, is that how examinations usually work? Use the least amount of your power while pretending you're using all of your strength? That seems easy!" Mariku commented offhandedly. Bakura's eyes widened. How did this guy know?

"What?" the teacher's eyes grew impossibly large. Bakura scowled.

"You don't know that! I'm trying my hardest!" He retorted. Because there was no way those kids could figure out that he was lying, they couldn't force him to use his powers.

Mariku grinned at the challenge. "Are you saying that I'm lying? I'm monitoring your heartbeat, and your bodily fluids. Whatever you're doing right now is no challenge for you."

Bakura frowned. "You're right. It's gotten a bit easy, but it does seem to be the extent of my powers."

"You're lying!" Malik spoke up this time. "If something's easy then you can always improve! You're just lazy!"

Bakura walked off the stage. He walked by the brothers and glared at the both of them. "Don't say anything else and I won't be forced to show you what I really can do…" He hissed as quietly as he could to the two of them before sitting down in his desk.

* * *

><p>Ryou wasn't expecting Bakura to pull him behind the school building for a talk during lunch. But Bakura was his brother, he had to listen to what he had to say before running back to his little friends.<p>

"Those two new kids are dangerous. They saw through my act. I can't get revealed to the school… I'll be expelled at worst, hated at best. And they'd hate you too."

Holy cow! Bakura was serious. They needed a plan, but what? What was best anyway? Ryou tried to calm his racing mind.

"Those new kids… those new kids are a giant pain. I'd beat them up, but I don't think that's what they're after revealing me to the teacher like that… They don't want a fight, that is." Bakura sat down and took a bite out of his sandwich.

Ryou was about to speak before he was interrupted.

"We don't want a fight. He's more of curious at the moment. And we already knew to watch out for you, Bakura." Mariku said, coming from no where with his tag-along little brother. Ryou gave them a weak smile.

"Curious? Curious of what? What my power is, why we're here, what Ryou's curse is?" Bakura snapped back, taking a defensive position.

"Well yeah, your power. Mostly your power. Why would we want to know about the cute one's curse?" Mariku smiled mysteriously. Ryou flushed bright red and Bakura only scowled more.

"Because his curse is the most powerful possible. You've seen my power, it's just a bit of telekinesis, nothing more."

Ryou felt his smile falter. Telekinesis and nothing more? Oh no, Bakura had so much more than that… he had everything. Ryou beat down the jealousy that never really left him alone.

"Most powerful curse? That's Death itself! Do you really have to die every night?" Malik this time. His amethyst eyes showed curiosity for the albino he'd hardly even met.

"Well yeah but Bakura always helps me out afterwards and I'm pretty sturdy now. The attacks are getting better." Ryou smiled cheerfully, despite the tough subject. They wouldn't understand. Only Bakura even thought he could understand and even he couldn't.

"I'm so sorry… I never thought that it could be such a bad curse… I really am sorry…" Malik gave the tiniest supportive smile back. Ryou didn't appreciate the gesture any more than he was willing to, but it still felt good to think that even a random stranger felt pity for him and was willing to be his friend.

"I honestly don't give a damn about the little shit. I want to see the extent of your powers! I don't care about your wimpy little brother or his fucking curse!" Mariku snarled.

Bakura's eye twitched at those words. NO ONE called Ryou a little shit. Let alone this bastard.

"I will fight you without using a shred of my power! And I will win!" Bakura snarled. "If you want to fight, you're on!"

Mariku started pulling water out of the air just as a show, like a matador waving around his red flag. Ryou gasped as his mouth went dry.

Mariku winked at him suggestively before turning back to Bakura. "You might as well give up, I can dehydrate your little brother in seconds."

Bakura snarled, feral. "Fight me without cheating, you fucking bastard! Use your powers on me or I'll use mine on your little brother as well."

Malik raised a blonde eyebrow. "Are you going to fight or not? There's nothing a little Telekinesis can do to me."

Oh how wrong you are, Malik. Ryou winced before deciding. "Bakura! He wants to know your powers. Just show him! There's no need to fight!" And there wasn't. Ryou was fine, so was Malik. Mariku hadn't hurt Ryou at all, and Bakura had nothing against Malik. If they didn't tell anyone, there was no harm.

"Well, only if they agree to my terms." Bakura listened to his brother, who was usually the voice of reason. "First, they can't tell anyone. Or inform anyone, in any way. They are the only ones allowed to know or share the knowledge with."

"Agreed." Malik said before his brother could deny anything. Mariku wanted a fight, but Malik knew that it was a foolish maneuver. Not if they wanted to really see Bakura's powers.

"Next thing, is that they can't touch or mess with either of us afterwards. Go behind our backs and trick us into something." Bakura held up two fingers. One might've thought it was a peace sign had he not been talking about rules.

"Malik, we can't promise that!" Mariku whined but Malik sent him a glare that shut his mouth.

"We can. We will not go behind your backs and trick you. We won't mess with you in any way." Malik brushed white blonde locks out of his eyes, which were fixated on Bakura's with intensity.

"Malik!" Mariku whined. Ryou was wondering why Mariku seemed so hell bent on that rule. Why was he so against not tricking them? Because he himself was nothing but a liar and a cheat? Or because the two of them already had plans. Plans to cheat, trick, and deceive?

"And one last thing. You will die if you break any of the rules. One will be forced to kill the other. That is your payment." Bakura smirked. Mariku seemed dead serious about rejecting this deal.

"When will this deal become absolute?" Malik asked suddenly. It did seem suspicious to Ryou, but he had no right to talk. Malik was a very secretive person, from what he'd seen so far. For him to be asking so many questions meant that they were probably planning something.

"The moment you said you'd agree to do them. You've already agreed to the first two, once you agree to the third it's absolute." Bakura glared at Malik, trying to see the loophole that Malik had found. The first rule might've been a trick, but the second was not, because it sealed off all trick-doing. "But for good measure, you have to repeat that you will obey all rules after you've agreed to the last one."

"Of course, of course. We agree." Malik said suddenly, a smile adorning his attractive features. "To obey all rules absolutely. We will not trick you, everything will be clear and you can walk right out of our plans whenever you'd like, unless you let yourselves become tricked. We will not tell, we will let you speak your secrets. We will kill each other if the rule is broken, but after one is dead, the other can of course bring them back."

"So you are planning something." was the reply that Bakura spit back. "What do you need my powers for?"

"That's none of your business. Your little rules don't make me tell you anything. I can't lie, however." Malik smirked. "Why don't we do this after school, we've spent enough time chatting. It's been nice to meet you, Bakura… Ryou."

"See ya suckers!" Mariku stuck his tongue out at Bakura, both of them leaving right as the bell rang. Ryou sighed. No lunch for him…

* * *

><p>And that is the beginning of my story. As usual, it won't ever update. There is no updating schedule to follow. Sorry. Maybe in a month or more you'll have a new chapter. Maybe sooner. I don't know, I'm just posting this to shits and giggles. Will be rated M later, but for now it's just T.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Fidget.

"Touzuko-kun!" Mai, his teacher again for this semester, snapped. "Please stop levitating the pencils on my desk and growling to yourself! I am having a lecture here. Stop being disruptive."

Bakura hadn't even noticed. Oops? He was rather off-kilter since lunch. The evening held too many promises. But he had too much pride to admit he was worried. The eyes of both the Ishtar twins burned into his back, expecting things and perhaps even demanding them.

"_Curious? Curious of what? What my power is, why we're here, what Ryou's curse is?" Bakura snapped back, taking a defensive position._

"_Well yeah, your power. Mostly your power. Why would we want to know about the cute one's curse?" Mariku smiled mysteriously. _

They wanted to know his power. How should he show what he knew to them? Hw could he disturb them most just showing them what he knew? And what did he know?

He could levitate things. Telekinesis. He could swap souls with people and end up in their bodies as long as he was touching them, or better yet, connected with them in some way. He could somewhat read minds, although he hadn't yet perfected that and he usually gave himself a massive headache trying. And he could take control of people's bodies for limited periods of time, depending and the person and how much they fought him.

That was about all he knew how to do, but certainly he could try other things. He hadn't tried to pick anything up heavier than a pick-up truck yet, but he didn't think it'd be hard. He just hadn't had a reason to try.

Bakura wasn't willing to try and swap powers with someone, unless they knew how to swap powers back. So he just was content on swapping bodies. He needed his powers to save himself in that situation. To hop to another body.

And he couldn't try to expand on the reading minds thing. He could barely do it himself, let alone try something new and more difficult… Bakura didn't use his control over people often, mainly because he'd seen what it did to Ryou.

Once Ryou had stopped crying and trying to rip his eyes out, he commanded that Bakura never use it again on anyone. To loose control of one's body and to be forced to do things against your will was a feeling a pure agony. To Ryou, he related it to being raped.

Bakura didn't want to upset Ryou. Ryou was all he had. But for some odd reason, he wanted to impress the Ishtar twins. He wasn't weak, and he hadn't had a chance to show off his abilities yet to anyone. Maybe he deserved some credit. Maybe Ryou should've shut his mouth about hiding his powers since it didn't do him any good.

Ryou hadn't really thought things through because honestly… who wanted friends just to lie to them? Bakura wasn't a liar. He played tricks, but he wasn't the petty sort of liar who kept big secrets from his friends. Not like he remembered ever having any. He just knew that if he did find people who put up with him and endured him and helped him, he wouldn't thank them by being stupid and lying. He commanded the same honestly back, as well.

Bakura wanted to show off. He could make excuses, but he really did want to show off. Everything, huh? How could Bakura turn these odds from against him, to for him?

Well, first he'd have to figure out what he wanted. Bakura didn't want to work for the Ishtars; that was danger and plain stupid. He wasn't some pawn. So maybe it was that Bakura wanted to have them work for himself instead? Well, he didn't have any goals and he definitely wasn't any type of people person.

Did he just want them around to be… friends?

That was even more ridiculous than the other thoughts. So he wanted something of them. Or more specifically, since he didn't care for Mariku, Bakura wanted something out of Malik?

But what?

Bakura didn't want 'love' or 'affection'. He got enough 'love' and 'affection' out of Ryou just from being related to him. Ryou doted on him just like a parent, and honestly only saps and losers really wanted someone to hold and love.

Ah. That's it. Obviously.

Bakura smirked. Well, this might be advantageous after all.

* * *

><p>Bakura glared at the two Egyptian catlike faces staring back at him. One looked to be purring in victory, the other hissing in defeat. Malik had a smirk. Mariku was looking pointedly in the other direction.<p>

"Glad to see you here. We want to see all that you can do. ALL. That was the terms for your little rules, correct?" Malik continued to purr happily.

Bakura smirked back. "Everything? Do you want to be my victim, or will Mariku be the better host?"

Malik licked his lips. "Me. Mariku, keep watch and make sure I don't die, now." The shorter Egyptian walked up close to Bakura with a sly, seductive smile. "Show me…"

Bakura smirked back. He then let out a great sigh and cracked his knuckles. This would be fun. Especially if he could get Mariku to freak out. Seemed good enough a plan. Here goes nothing…

Bakura's previous thoughts invaded his brain. Well, that was what he wanted… But although it might help, it might hurt… should he not have fun with this? Bakura didn't really think it'd hurt too much, his goals, if he became responsive to Malik's flirting.

Maybe it was all a step in the right direction.

Hell, Malik was attractive. He might as well… if it was a display of his power, a display of his power he'd get. And Mariku would shit his pants. Bakura cackled, "Well I think we'll just have to get started the easy way. Just don't pass out on me."

Bakura leaned in, still grinning like a cat that has caught it's mouse, and gave the tanned teen a rough kiss. He'd never kissed anyone to encourage a switch, but judging by the elder sibling's reaction, he was the perfect way to start this with a bang. And hell, he was taking a page from Yami's book and not being original. Bakura relished the expression on Mariku's face and he decided it was too priceless. Letting the rush of power take over, he felt his entire body twitch softly at the shoulders before he was inside Malik.

Malik's eyes blinked down into his. He knew how disorienting it was to be in another's body, but he had decided to become Bakura's plaything. Bakura felt a bit of odd pride at how shocked he was, but only a little.

"I swapped our souls. You're in my body, I'm in yours. All it takes is contact for me to manage it." He said in Malik's honey smooth voice. Malik smiled sweetly back, and Bakura almost froze from the evil expression in the teen's eyes. How strange it looked on own his face…

Bakura felt the urge he'd thought on earlier cemented somewhere. Yes, he knew exactly what he wanted now. He didn't want to work for the Ishtars, to become friends with them, to have them work for him, or to receive any sort of 'love' or 'affection' from Malik.

He simply wanted to work with Malik. Whatever Malik desired, Bakura kind of wanted to help him achieve. And he wanted the same in return. Not friendship, partnership.

Malik smashed their mouths together painfully to urge the swap back. Bakura let the swap occur without resistance. He'd much rather be taller than shorter in a kiss anyway. Although the kiss was really quite enjoyable. Call him a sadist. But he liked causing pain. Even if, in this case, it was his body and not him personally.

The release of energy rushed out of him and he felt his eyes blink. Clearing his vision, Malik was standing in front of him tensely. Their eyes met. Somehow it made him feel connected. Somehow he actually enjoyed it. It was a brutal contest.

And it was interrupted.

Mariku sat there disgruntled. "I thought you just said it needed contact. Why'd you have to KISS him?"

"It's easier if you're inside the person. And I didn't think you wanted me to fuck him… really now." So that was a lie, because a connection was the real answer of what was needed. Touch was necessary, but knowing them was better. Bakura ran his fingers over the Egyptian's slightly swollen lip. Easily bruise-able, this one. He chuckled. "I don't think he'd survive a good fuck."

Bakura was snickering on the inside from the look on Mariku's face. "Stop letting that pervert do whatever he likes!" was screamed from his every glance. Bakura almost let out another chuckle. Really, this was too much fun. Let's see how Mariku takes this next part, then!

Honestly, he really hoped Malik would forgive him for playing around. He barely knew him, but he didn't want to loose him before he got him. But Mariku on the other hand, he really didn't care about. Screwing with him was fun, although something about him made Bakura want to punch puppies.

And just for that, Malik had to suffer a little. It was the only button Bakura knew of, anyway.

"Come here, pet." He drawled, watching Malik loose control of his limbs. Malik walked up to him and pulled out everything in his pockets. A soda can, a pair of fire proof gloves, and a lighter. The other hand revealed ten dollars and a house key, along with bubblegum and various different types of bottle caps, all in the same coppery gold metal.

Bakura watched as Malik winced, trying to keep himself from handing the albino everything in his hands. "I need that!" He protested as he himself handed Bakura the ten dollars before pocketing everything else.

Bakura grinned. "Really now?" Malik gulped, fear showing slightly in his eyes.

And for the finale!

"Of course you can have everything you desire from me, Thief King." Malik said, again against his will. Satisfied with his torture of both the siblings, Bakura released Malik from his control. The Egyptian curled in on himself a little, up in a ball. Having your body invaded was a horrible feeling, many times he'd accidentally hurt Ryou with his powers doing just this.

Almost exploding, Mariku gave him a look that told him to back the hell off. Bakura would've ignored it, but…

Bakura wasn't as heartless as he liked to credit himself with. This was someone he wanted to establish a partnership with, someone strong enough to fight him. And hopefully, strong enough to fight with him and for him. They needed a certain spark that caught Bakura's interest. Not that anyone else had caught his eye like this ever before. He wasn't even sure of his intentions himself. Bakura rarely let his emotions control himself so wildly. Something in Malik was that spark, and Bakura had seen it clearly.

Malik literally had ate it. The cocky confidence was just a bonus.

He offered his hand out to the teen, who was shivering from his entire body doing things he protested against, and being useless to stop it. Malik took it, sucked in a breath, and was back to the smug teen he'd know before the whole incident. Admirable endurance. Bakura would've felt guilty, but they HAD wanted to see his powers…

"Next up in our Bakura circus spectacular is telekinesis. Of course it's not really all that much of a surprise, since you've already seen my plastic cup centered skills." Bakura commented dryly. His sarcasm was lost on Mariku, and Malik held in whatever remark he was going to let out in favor of a dry chuckle.

He lifted up several parked cars and trucks easily, not even breaking a sweat. Bakura watched them bounce up and around, being juggled by his power… He felt something hurt a little inside. See? You are a monster… This is why they won't talk to you once they know… this is why… always why…

Not that it really bothered Bakura anymore. He was fine alone. He was fine up at the stop. He didn't need Malik as a partner. He'd managed on his own for so long. Just like monsters should. Not to hurt others.

Because this was easy, this was nothing but… "Boring." He said at last, putting the cars back gently. "I would demonstrate teleporting, but Ryou's got me on a time limit. So let's make this quick. Mind-reading is the most advanced thing I can do, really. That puts a strain on me…"

Malik smirked. _'Oh, is that so. Well, what am I thinking now, puffball? What thoughts are running through my little pretty head? You can't possibly know what I'm thinking. You can't know my schedule or how I paint my nails-'_

"You're asking me what you're thinking of, which is stupid because you aren't actually thinking anything but that question. There were undertones of narcissism, and you have the desire to repaint your fingernails once you get home. What else?" Bakura said with his teeth gritted. God, reading minds was fun but it was incredibly exhausting.

It was about the only part that WAS exhausted. And Bakura was just that sexy.

'_Wonderful, you can! You've far more powerful than we though, although you're still unaware of about 90% of your power. You'd make a good test subject, binky boy. And yes, they are getting chipped from the fire and all… maybe black would look good on me?' _Malik thought with an innocent smile plastered on his face that reminded Bakura of a movie star and a psychopath at the same time. Bakura frowned. A test subject? 90% of his power?

"Yes, Black would be a good shade on you. It'll look really emo and gay, you know? I know I'm still experimenting with my powers, but I can't go up and tell anyone about them now. So no, I won't become a test subject." Bakura replied, before cutting off the connection between him and Malik.

It took him a second to catch his breath. It was tiring to force a connection like that, to be privy to one's every inner most whimsical thought. Malik's thoughts were so random and gumbled, he'd never found a mind so hard to read before.

Not that he'd actually read many minds. It caused Bakura to fall asleep as quick as a snap of Ryou's fingers as soon as he so much as closed his eyes.

Malik rolled his eyes. "Sarcasm is lost in my thoughts, apparently. Test subject? Honestly you thought I was being serious about chaining you up under some eagle eyed scientist and watch them forcefully extract your bodily fluids?"

Well, thoughts were rather convincing. Bakura would never admit that he'd believed it though.

Mariku grabbed his brother by the arm. Finally, all Bakura's work trying to get underneath Mariku's skin paid off. This was the explosion. "Look at him! We never thought someone like him would be running around here! Did you not see what he was doing to you? He can control people, Hikari. Control them, like little puppets! It might be the best idea!"

Apparently he was still pissed about how easily Bakura could force things to happen by merely thinking. Or maybe it was just over protectiveness of his brother that made him lose reason. Bakura scoffed. He'd like to see them try to lock him up. He'd kill them both.

Well, maybe not Malik. Partners were no good if they were dead. But he'd definitely wish he was dead.

"I think it's far more interesting to use him. And I like puppets. I often use people as puppets. What's the difference?" Malik brushed his brother's arm off. And with the wink Malik threw at him, Bakura was now lost in the whole situation.

"I'm totally confused by you two." He stated. "And I thought figuring out everything I could do was the difficult part."

Bakura made to leave, but Malik grabbed his arm. "Stay a second."

Now, one could tell if they'd been deprived of physical pleasure if even a hand on their arm could cause his heart speed up at the warm touch. Oh god, why was it so addictive? Bakura hated addictions, swatting away the hand and the feelings. Why did he suddenly want those damned eyes on him, him being the center of their world? Maybe it was just his narcissism after all.

Those weren't the feelings he wanted to have. Malik was partner material, not some one night stand. He had to watch himself. Then again, he had never been partners with anyone before; collaberators towards the same goal. What did it entail? How much emotion was he allowed?

Bakura didn't know, but he didn't like the way his heart kept beating.

"We need your help. After the Kaiba Corporation disaster, there were only a few people who escaped unscathed. The powers distributed from the loose energy spread all over the world. Now, people have begun to fear the power and curse holders and their families. They've reformed Kaiba Corporation to make sure all power and curse holders and their relatives are eliminated."

Kaiba Corp was back? He thought the stupid organization went down for good after it's older owner, Gozabaro, committed suicide in front of the press for his failure…

"And I can help with that?" Bakura asked, not knowing where this was going. He had nothing to do with big companies and shit like that, nor did he really care. Honestly, the only care he'd fight for was Ryou. Did he really want to be partners with someone involved in something this big?

Malik hopped up on one of the dumpsters and he pulled up one leg to rest his arms on. "Well no… The person who started Kaiba Corp back up from the dead was Seto Kaiba, the heartless bastard of all bastards. He wants to eliminate everyone with a power, and especially those with curses. They want to get rid of those who are weak or overly strong. Someone like you is the perfect example of their hit list."

"I am not being bait." Bakura stated. He just wanted to make that clear, even though that didn't seem to be what Malik was hinting at. He might've wanted to be partners, but he was no one's bitch. Hell if Malik made him one. He refused.

"Shut up and listen to my brother before I make you!" Mariku snarled. Yep, still pissed. Bakura always did good work.

"Continuing! To battle KC, I formed a group of supporters called the Rare Hunters, to find the most talented of power holders and the weakest curse holders and protect them from Kaiba and his minions. But well… we're a bit illegal. The law is on Kaiba's side, rather. So of course we do things in a more underhanded manner. We want you to join and protect everyone in Domino High from Kaiba, since you have enough power to do so…"

"And if I refuse?" Bakura didn't work without pay. Oh no. And he definitely didn't want to be a minion. That was not what he had in mind at all.

"We'll make you trick yourself into the deal. But it means so much more work, plus we'd assign our friend to monitor you and keep you under our control. So… easy or hard way?" Malik meet his eyes. Bakura felt his mouth go dry.

"Hard way. They might find out about my powers. And that can't happen just so I can play super hero and save a couple of wimps!" Why was his mouth saying something against what he was really feeling? Why did he have a feeling on this subject at all? He didn't want to work for Malik! He wanted to work with him! Bakura shook his head to clear it before continuing. "And you can't trick me into anything!"

Malik's eyes glinted with the promise of a challenge. "Mariku and I'll have some fun getting this one under wraps. But don't worry, if you ever just give in and say yes, thing's will be much, much easier for you."

Bakura froze at the undertones. There was nothing more to contemplate. Bakura had to leave them before they caused more damage to his mental state. He couldn't stay, and the fastest way to leave was…

Bakura focused. Clear.

He built up energy and focused on the small door of his house with the blue roof with white panelling on the walls. That sight, smell, sound, and then he released the energy and felt himself catapulted into the other space.

He teleported away quickly. Ryou jumped at the pop of his brother appearing next to him, but Bakura's face told him not to ask.

He didn't even have the answers.

* * *

><p>7:30 was a cursed time. Bakura hissed at the bright lights coming down from the sky. He'd managed to survive an entire week with those demons breathing down his neck to join their secret illegal organization.<p>

Bakura honestly didn't know why he wouldn't join it. Call him a masochist but he wanted to be tormented by Malik until his will broke and he agreed to join only under the bargain of being partners. It was all a careful tactic… And oh-so much fun! Bakura liked the change from the boring, old, damned routine.

He was torn from his thoughts by Ryou's sniffling. They were both awake at 4 when his curse kicked in and started the nightly strangling. If it was a light sleep, the curse usually couldn't kick in, and Ryou was luckily a very light sleeper, so he had managed to delay the attack for his brother to get some sleep until 3 am when he finally gave in to the lulls of deeper dreamless sleep.

Meaning that Ryou'd been away since 4:30 and worse for ware. Bakura climbed out of his bed and walked over towards his sobbing brother. "Hey… Ryou, what's up?"

"N-nothing! Why d-don't I make breakfast?" He said a bit too quickly. Bakura frowned.

He was not a wimp. Bakura hated being a wimp more than anything. But he might have a soft spot for his brother. His brother, who was now miserable. It made Bakura want to punch a lot of things. Well, better start buttering up Ryou. A couple nice words would loosen his mouth.

"Please Ryou, just tell me what's wrong. What's bothering you?" Bakura sat down next to his brother, feeling a bit guilty through all of his anger for sleeping through whatever Ryou was crying about. "I know I might not understand but I'll listen."

Ryou nodded and smiled. Bakura hid his face and his relief as he smiled a little back. And he hadn't smiled for real for a long time. Damn you, Ryou. Let's change that from soft spot to large tender bruise.

"It seems like the one person I can't make friends with is the one who's constantly on my mind. And yet there he is, talking and joking around with you! I thought if you finally h-had friends then I would be so much more relieved, b-but I'm j-just jealous!" Ryou whimpered, looking back down.

His brain raced to calculate the new information it'd been given. Ryou wanted to be friends with… wait, was it Malik or Mariku? Both of them had been bugging him and poking fun at him in every moment, trying to trick him into saying yes… or what exactly were they actually doing? Trying to make his head so befuddled and open that he'd want to say yes?

Dumb Egyptians. No one tricked Bakura. He had a giant plan.

They were the only ones… but Malik always said hello to Ryou and was polite if not kind. So he must mean Mariku, who was more of a mystery than Malik in some ways but less in others. He was simple minded and straight forward, so when he said something he meant it, but he didn't really seem to talk much when his brother was around to do it for him…

So he must mean Mariku. Curious, curious. Well, that tipped the tables. Bakura felt the smile drop right off his face. "Mariku. You have a crush on Mariku of all people? He hates you!"

Bakura deserved the 1st place for dumbest comment of the year.

Ryou hiccupped and started bawling again. Oh… shit. Bakura really needed to think before he said things. He slapped himself internally before trying to hug his over emotional teenager of a brother.

"Ryou! I didn't mean it like that! I meant that he hasn't ever said anything about you that I found positive! I don't know, maybe he's just shy or something! Everyone likes you, Ryou! Just because someone has other friends doesn't mean that they won't be yours too right?"

Fuck, Bakura sucked at comforting. He never thought it would come in handy, since usually his thing was on the more villanous crooked side. He didn't like bunnies or comforting other people. Bakura tried to hide his annoyance at both Ryou and his failures.

"But we're like opposites! Akefia always laughed and said he was like half and half of the both of us! If someone likes you, then they can't like me! If someone likes me then they can't like you! But now that you finally have somebody, anybody to talk to, I want to steal them from you!"

The table shattered into a million pieces. Ryou barely shielded his eyes in time for the pieces to come down like hail on his skin. Bakura hissed.

"DON'T EVER MENTION THAT NAME TO ME AGAIN! DON'T!" He screamed.

Panting, Bakura stared at Ryou, his eyes hard and vicious. The clock ticked before he slowly came back to his senses. Watching Ryou tremble, Bakura inched towards the entry way. Spinning a 180, he dashed for the door. It opened so violently it swung off it's hinges and smashed through the window. He didn't bother to use his power to close the door behind him.

Ryou whimpered at the million tiny cuts all over his body. His arms wouldn't stop bleeding. Ryou barely managed to find the phone and dial 911.

"Help my brother please… he's out on the loose and I'm afraid he might hurt someone… I made him mad… okay… He's got long white hair, and brown eyes. He's about 5'8"… I'm fine, just a few cuts, please just find him!" Ryou pleaded with the emergency service worker over the phone. He hadn't been thinking… he knew that Akefia was the worst subject he could've brought up. Bakura had never gotten over Akefia, he'd never been the same since.

That was when Bakura lost all of his friends, they were scared of him. He was a murderer. He killed his own brother. It had all been an accident but they never had understood. Ryou understood. Bakura hadn't had control, he didn't know what could've happened, he was young. But Ryou was the only one. That was when everyone had become Ryou's friend, to comfort him and give him oodles and oodles of sympathy.

He didn't even deserve it, he wasn't the one who needed it.

And even though he pleaded them to look for his brother, they sent him an ambulance to their apartment instead.

* * *

><p>"You're vicious today." Malik took the empty 'seat' next to Bakura, who was sitting on a swing in the farthest park from his house. He wasn't even wearing shoes, Marik noted. Whatever happened had unhinged him rather badly.<p>

"I hurt Ryou…" He almost sulked, the swing creaking.

"Oh, Mariku would've enjoyed seeing that! What did he do so early in this beautiful day?" Malik said, concern and love just dripping from his voice. He didn't really care about the weaker Touzuko much. He was more concerned about the albino next to him, honestly. Ryou got hurt all the time.

Bakura sent Malik flying backwards from the swing. Luckily only into the soft sand, but still the unconcern to use his power in a public place showed how unstable he was… even if they were alone. No wanted to be awake at 8 o'clock in the morning anyway.

"Don't. Push. Me." He ground out, never looking up from his feet.

"Note taken." Malik said, retaking his seat next to Bakura cautiously. Bakura could've sent him flying much, much farther. What stopped him? "What really happened? Why are you like this?" He said softly, reaching out his hand and taking a paler one in his own.

The morning was biting cold even with the sun blazing down on the two of them. Malik cupped the paler hand in both of his to warm it up. He was always warm from growing up in the rough Egyptian sun. Bakura had grown up in Britain, and was probably used to the cold more than he was, but Malik wanted to share some of his warmth.

The guy was fucking barefoot. How much more fucking stupid can one be on a January morning?

"He mentioned our triplet… Akefia. There were three of us." Bakura replied softly. Malik blinked owlishly. He thought they were just twins, but really Bakura and Ryou were in a trio? What had happened to Akefia?

"He died… didn't he? That's why you say there were three… instead of are." He realized out loud. Bakura nodded, surprisingly quiet.

"I killed him. He was the oldest and the best out of all three of us. We were barely 7, when he made me mad for having the best grades in class. He called me a geek and a nerd. He told me that I had to grow a back bone because otherwise I'd constantly get stepped on and I'd never be as good as he and Ryou were… I was just a kid, that was the one of the worst things he could've said. Akefia was more athletic than me, so he just ran away whenever I tried to catch up…"

Malik stayed silent. He wanted to hear more, and saying something like 'Yeah' seemed useless. He started rubbing circles on Bakura's hand to tell him it was okay to continue and tell him everything. There was a little breeze and it made the cold even more biting than before.

"I couldn't control my temper… I was so mad. I remember that I wanted him to die, that I wanted to stab him and end his fucking laughter because I wasn't any worse than he was… That he needed to fight back instead of cowardly running away from me. I made him explode. He begged me to stop, but I saw it as weakness and I had to hurt something… I wanted to hurt him and I did." Bakura ended with a shuddering gasp.

Malik knew what it was like, and at the moment more than anything. Not being in control because of how you felt… Mariku and him fought all the time and their fights as children were like that except instead of blowing each other up, they tried to burn or drown each other. They were at a stalemate as their powers cancelled each other out. Bakura had obviously won.

"Was he a power holder?" He whispered. His breath came out in large puffs of warm air.

"No. He was normal. Completely normal. It was murder, murder! I can kill people so easily! I hate myself for that even more than them…" Bakura's head snapped to face Malik's. His eyes were hard, but his voice was unsteady. "You… you're not scared of me, are you?"

The last question caught Malik off guard. He replied gently "I could kill you just as easily. Are you scared of me? No, of course not… I'm not scared of you, Bakura."

"That's good. I was scared that I'd loose you… I like something about you and it'd be a waste to let it slip by me." Bakura looked in his eyes. Malik grinned. He did look a lot better. Talking about something like that always helped. Malik knew that for sure.

"Well you'll never get rid of me now!" He pounced the poor unsuspecting teen, knocking them both off their swings and onto the sand below. Malik laughed as he sat on top of the albino. He almost bragged about his victory when Bakura swung his leg up and flipped their positions easily.

"Hey!" Malik cried, using his legs to catapult the brit over his head before force and entwined legs made him follow suit.

Bakura smirked and pulled him down for a kiss. Malik was expecting to feel the switch of bodies, like a week ago, but he remained comfortably in his own body. Their lips parted. It took a second of staring down at Bakura before Malik voiced his question.

"Why did you do that?" He asked in a small voice. He had no problems with kissing, or homosexual relationships, but he'd never thought about it. Did he seem like he wanted to be in a relationship? Was he hinting at it, or something? Bakura had just said something about being friends, so why did he just kiss him?

"I was going to switch us…" He trailed off. "But I got a bit preoccupied."

Malik felt his face go red. Dammit, just like a girl here he was blushing and shit. What the fuck was wrong with him today? He'd usually have a snappy comeback or something but his mind was racing far too much for him to think straight.

Oh, ha ha. Bad pun.

The tension was thick enough to cut through, as Bakura perched over Malik comfortably. Finally he decided to break the silence.

"So… wanna hear a joke?" Bakura teased. Or was it just his mind interpreting things wrong? Could be, could not be… Either way it was an obvious change of subject that Malik was grateful sure. But he also was wary.

"Sure…" Malik answered, not feeling very sure at all.

"Two blondes walked into a bar." Bakura paused. Malik waited. "You'd think one of them would've ducked."

Malik blinked. Huh? Bar? Ducked? Why would one duck in a bar? To avoid a bar fight, or something? They were drunk?

"You don't even get it! You're so blonde!" Bakura laughed from underneath him. Malik took no time in bitch slapping him.

How DARE he? Malik was a natural blonde and he wasn't dumb! He had straight A's and he was even a grade advanced! How dare Bakura insist he was dumb! "Tell me. Tell me!" He whined. "What's so funny?"

"Okay, you know… bar? Metal bar? As in, a pole? If two blondes walked into a bar… you'd think one of them would've ducked. Get it now?" Bakura said, a hand on his red cheek.

"Yes. Fuck you. I can't believe you had enough nerve to call me dumb like that." Malik crossed his arms and huffed.

"WOULD YOU TWO GET A ROOM?" A random stranger yelled from across the road. She had two young children in hand. "I WANT MY PARK TO BE GAY FREE!"

Both of them didn't bother to hide their anger marks. "She's FUCKING dead."

* * *

><p><strong>Shorter chappie this time. I'd apologize for the wait, but I don't really think I have enough readers who care enough to read it. And um, sorry about the really dumb blonde joke. Someone told me that, and I had the same reaction as Marik. It's funnier if you read Bakura with a British accent. Am um...<strong>

**Thank you to my two reviewers! I love all my readers! Thanks a lot for all the support you've given me. I'm trying somewhat hard to work on this story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Brief note before the story starts:**

**/This is a text./ is texting.**

* * *

><p>The police came back to Ryou empty handed. Ryou smiled at this, after having the doctors stitch up the worst of his cuts after removing the glass. They didn't want to move him to the hospital, since they needed Ryou for more information.<p>

"He obviously is lying low and sulking rather than going on a rampage. I assume everything's fine then. That, or he's dead right now…" Ryou told the nurse who was still bandaging some of the worst cuts.

"Dead? What came up? Your brother sounds really dangerous and I think he has serious problems. Maybe he should be in a mental institute…" She said, concern in her voice. Ryou had refused to be moved to the hospital as they had everything they needed already in the house, and also so he could play damage control if his brother returned home.

"No… I just mentioned our deceased brother at a bad moment. He's never gotten over it. Seeing your own brother die in front of you is really harsh, you know. He might be sulking over the fact he hurt me. We're really close. I think a mental institute will only make his life more difficult, and our parents tried therapy several times before they passed away."

The nurse hugged him to comfort him, before giving his shoulder a strong pat. "Seems like you've had a hard life. You do know that your brother faces charges for assaulting you? He'll probably be sentenced to community service, but it is possible he'll end up in juvenile jail on battery charges."

"He wasn't trying to kill me or hurt me! As I said before, he stepped on the table on accident in his dash for the door. It wasn't intentional violence. I knew I shouldn't have said anything about the subject, it was my fault." Ryou showed her out, before laying down on the couch. The police were sticking around for Bakura to show up again, so they could handcuff him for "assaulting an innocent citizen."

And then he'd spend the rest of his time in the 'holding' jail cell until Ryou managed to scrap up the amount of money needed to pay his bail until his trial, in which he'd probably get community service and therapy for anger.

Ryou knew it was his fault, but Bakura had been so angry… he probably shouldn't have called 911 on his brother, he knew that his brother would never hurt anyone he had nothing against… Then again, Bakura was impulsive and he had many secrets he hid from Ryou. Ryou wished he could trust his brother not to hurt anyone but… Biting his thumb nail, Ryou was vaguely wondering what his brother was doing right now…

Ryou didn't have to wait long before Bakura unlocked the door and held his hands out.

The police man handcuffed him with a raised eyebrow. "You obviously know the drill." He remarked. Bakura nodded. Ryou laughed.

"You better activate those handcuffs. He is pretty good at getting out of them." Ryou added. "He knows the drill, alright. This should be his third time in those for real."

The police man looked disgruntled before pressing the button that activated the tightening of the metal. It was made with a polyester alloy, blended together using a certain decibel of pressure. It also contained copper, which weakened most powers.

"Now try getting out of them!" The man said with a grin. He watched Bakura wiggle a little on one hand and it popped out. Same thing with the other one. The police man gaped. "Put them back on! How did you do that? These are maximum security!"

"Easy. You make the handcuff's stretching abilities work against it, by causing friction on one side then use your fore finger to widen it. Takes a lot of practice, and a bit of strength to do." Bakura slipped the handcuffs back on. "But don't worry, I'll be good."

The police man shivered. He pushed Bakura out through the door before giving Ryou a sympathetic look. Ryou wanted to punch the man. And he was a very big pacifist.

The police care drove off, and Ryou felt truly alone.

* * *

><p>Mariku watched Malik out of the corner of his eye. His younger brother almost seemed to be sulking. He'd dump water all over him, but school made that impossible without getting in trouble. It had something to do with one of the Touzuko twins.<p>

The irritating one was here today but the other one wasn't. He hadn't seen any news. He'd have to confront the irritating one.

The bell rung for lunch. Everyone scattered quickly, and Mariku had barely managed to grab the white haired teen before he left the room. For some reason his face went all red. Hm… that made little to no sense.

"Hey useless. Where's your brother?" Mariku snapped. He didn't like dealing with worthless snots. Maybe one of the albinos was worth his time, and his presence was actually enjoyable, but the other had no value what so ever.

"Of course." Ryou seemed angry even at that. What was with this stupid little one? "Bakura is spending the day in our local jail. I have to work all this week before I can pay his bail, but he still can't come to school until after his trial on next Thursday. They were lenient."

"What'd he do?" Mariku asked out of curiosity.

"Assault me." Ryou gestured to his arms and his face, both were covered in heavy bandages.

"Serves you right." Mariku snorted before walking off to find Malik. He missed Ryou's pained expression.

* * *

><p>It took a week before Bakura was out of jail. Ryou had tried to pay the bail as quickly as possible, but as the crime wasn't even really severe and there was no evidence to collect, the trial was quick to come.<p>

Bakura sucked up some of his slurpie. No school was great. He loved being alone, free. But he rather missed Malik and Mariku already. He wouldn't call them friends yet but he was anxious to see them again. Until then he was to wait around in the neighbor hood and do house hold chores. Boring.

Ryou had bought him the slurpie before heading off to school, and just like how you'd treat a child, he told Bakura to stay out of trouble and to be nice. He felt like the younger brother now. Not that he minded, they were triplets minus one. He'd been a younger brother before.

Time for some self thinking. He couldn't even begin to say how great it was to be outside on a school day, with the wind and the chill and the morning sun beating down on him. The absolute freedom, the fact he was alone and nothing was expected of him…

Bakura smirked. Trouble here Bakura comes.

* * *

><p>Ryou came home to a note stuck on their door. Probably written by Bakura, judging by the crude words and the smiley face. 'Don't go inside yet! ;D" it read.<p>

Ryou sighed. He hadn't been getting good sleep, it was Bakura's first day outside of jail after all and Bakura couldn't teleport in case he was caught and his powers came out into the open. He had to keep them hidden, because if you had a power and were in prison, you were marked a super villain and they wouldn't hesitate to execute you.

Bakura was good at hiding his powers. There had been no problems with that. But Ryou was exhausted from having nothing to help fight his attacks with.

He sat down on the porch and pulled out a Harry Potter book. He never got tired of rereading the series. As soon as he was absorbed thoroughly into the Yule ball, Bakura swung the door wide open. "You have to come see this!" He almost chirped.

Ryou's eyes widened. Oh dear… how much sugar had Bakura consumed? A dangerous amount. That expression meant extreme risk of total hell. It was the only time Bakura had even a slight hyper disposition. Oh Ra…

"How much caffeine did you consume? Sugar? Iced tea? I told you not to get into any trouble!" Ryou argued, following his absolutely hyper doppelganger into their kitchen. And freezing at the sight that lay there.

"Isn't it pretty?" Bakura giggled. Ryou tried not to cry. Their beautiful kitchen had been destroyed! Bakura had covered their once pristine white walls with splatters of black and red paint. It had dripped and now it looked like some sort of satanic summoning center. And the rest of their items had been painted to match, either black, white, or red. Oh dear Ra… Someone save him.

Leaving Bakura home alone just wasn't going to do. Ryou heaved another sigh before finding a phonebook. He knew that the twins were new, but this was an even newer phonebook, and certainly they had been here since before school started up again after winter break.

Ishtar wasn't a common name, not at all. It was easy to find in the phone book, really. Ryou quickly dialed the number. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully it was Malik that picked up. He was the one Ryou really needed to speak to, anyway.

"Hello? Ishtar residence." A woman's voice answered. Oh crap… Ryou tried not to panic.

"This is Ryou Touzuko. May I please speak to Malik?" He said, ignoring the panic alerts he got from his phone shyness. The woman made a noise of confirmation, either "hm, or oh".

Two more seconds and a click before he heard the cheerful voice he knew to expect from Malik. "Hey, Ryou! Do you need help with anything?"

"Well, yes. Bakura absolutely cannot stay home alone, he's painted our entire kitchen black and red! I don't even know how much sugar he's digested but it's obvious that the amount is way too much for him to handle!" Ryou pleaded. Malik paused on the other end.

"And he can't come to school until the case is resolved, right? They've given him whatever punishment goes along with assaulting your younger brother with a table? Well damn, um…" Malik seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. "How about I take him along on a few business trips with Mariku and myself? We do have things to get cleared up."

These business trips sounded shady but Ra knew that Ryou wasn't going to be able to handle one bored, overly powerful, and slightly insane brother for the next week. Not at the rate this was going.

"It's all legal, right? I don't want to get in any more trouble than before…" Ryou decided weakly.

"Yes, yes. Don't worry, Ryou! It's all over the table. We'll just be taking a quick jaunt to New York city and I'll let 'Kura do some sightseeing while Mariku and I talk to our sponsors. That's it! And don't worry, we'll keep a leash on him." Malik sounded a bit too cheerful now. Ryou felt slightly suspicious, but he decided that if he couldn't trust Malik with Bakura, he could trust no one.

Whatever plans in store they had for his psychotic older brother weren't really his business. He should've gotten used to that idea already. But for some reason it bothered him. Malik wouldn't lie to him; would he?

"I'll drop him off at 8 o'clock tonight. Stay safe, please." Ryou pleaded.

"We will, sweet things." Mariku snatched the phone away from Malik to hiss, before hanging up.

Ryou glanced back at Bakura, who was grinning evilly and trying to put a bottle of wine into their microwave. Oh Ra…

* * *

><p>Bakura plopped down on the Ishtar family sofa. "I think my acting was sufficient, Malik."<p>

Malik nodded, curling up into his side. "I didn't think you could act happy. Or hyper. You proved me wrong." He yawned.

"You two look so gay!" Mariku laughed like a hyena before flopping down even more hideously than Bakura had done. "Seriously though, you managed to paint the entire kitchen and all of your kitchen ornaments all in less than a day? Ryou must've broken a few blood vessels seeing that! Oh man!"

"I had a little help. Telekinesis and a couple paintbrushes later… Anyway, you did tell him we are going to New York, right? I hope you cleared that up because I want to know my enemy before this thing bites my butt." Bakura replied, cautious.

"I informed him of all the main details. Ishizu failed to mention that she got you the wrong ticket, though. You're in the very back of the plane. We're flying first class. Heh." Malik grabbed his arm and used it as a makeshift teddy bear. Bakura frowned at him, but in all honestly the albino thought it was absurdly attractive in a horrible fashion.

Wait, he didn't just think that. Erase that from your memories. Guh. He filed away the thought as completely useless, before continuing on as if it never happened.

Bakura watched the younger brother fall into a deep sleep on the couch. It was only 12:22 AM. And he thought Ryou was a wimp. Even Ryou had sometimes stayed up later than that to watch those horror movies he enjoyed strangely enough…

"Well, that leaves the two of us. Let's play a game. I know there's only two of us, but how about truth or dare?" Mariku whispered harshly.

"That's the most stupid idea to ever come out of your mouth. And you're not known for being smart." Bakura deadpanned.

"I know. That's why I know you're smart enough to handle it. And also we have a plaything."

Bakura smirked. Oh? Malik was a toy now? This could be fun. He liked to screw with Mariku. It was strangely fun. He wondered how to push his buttons this time. "I hold no real adversity to that ultimate failure of a party game. Bring it on."

"Truth or dare?" Mariku cackled.

"Dare." Bakura shot back.

"Sweet talk Malik since he's still asleep and oh so innocent." Mariku waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Bakura made a face. How the hell did you sweet talk anybody? The mere thought made him a little sick. He didn't want to sweet talk anything. Fuck him into hell if he did… But he had too much pride NOT to try.

"Malik, my dear… you're cutting off the circulation to my legs but I'll ignore it just to watch your beautiful sleeping face…?" Bakura tried, letting a large disgusted grimace spread across his face. Mariku fell off the couch laughing.

"You failed, man!" he barely managed to climb back on the couch, still chuckling. "You need to put emotion into it! You just sounded like you were constipated!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Bakura growled. The albino absent-mindedly stroked the blonde's pale hair, before speaking again. "Truth or dare, Mariku?"

"Truth! You'd give me something gross for a dare after that one!" The porcupine head replied.

"What do you think of Ryou in all honesty? No lies, no jokes, seriously. What do you think of him?" Bakura asked, curious for his little brother but also rather scared he'd know just how much Mariku hated him…

"He's cute. He's emotional. It all makes him weak, but it pisses me off because he's begging to be abused but all I want to do it break him and then put him back together afterwards. And be the only one able to do so… The whole thing makes me sick. I only bother with him when it's necessary. And I hate when it's necessary." Mariku shrugged. Bakura stuck his tongue out. His brother? Broken? No wonder, it was like kicking a puppy just so you had an excuse to hug it.

Bakura digested it with a sour feeling. Mariku was pretty fucked up. Not like he wasn't, but the whole concept of beating someone just so you can be the only one to comfort them… sadistic, sick… And something Ryou would enjoy because he wanted to be broken even if it was just to have the joy of being fixed.

"So… Truth or dare?" Mariku asked after an awkward silence.

"You know that I have no real choice but to choose truth, right? And next turn you have to pick dare?" Bakura pointed out. There were only two of them, someone had to pick the hard option instead of avoiding it and taking the easy way out.

"Well… tell me all about your first time!" Mariku cackled. Bakura gave him a glare with two meanings. Quiet, you'll wake up your brother and there is no way I will deal with his bitchiness, and fuck you.

Mariku waggled his eyebrows for emphasis.

"Really? Well you want the long version, how it happened, or why and who and where?" Bakura smirked, fingers running through Malik's hair yet again. He found it rather calming. Like petting a cat. Bakura liked cats.

And also because every time he stroked Malik's scalp, Mariku's eye twitched.

"Well I'm sure your vocabulary is far too advanced for me to hear anything about what it was like and my brother there is a virgin so why not you disclose the lucky person and why they decided to do the dirty deed with one so foul as yourself?" Mariku held in his demonic giggles but Bakura could see them shaking his body.

"Well it all started one late night… First night I was arrested, too. Crazy shit happens." Bakura shrugged. "I met this girl and I didn't know she was a whore. So when she offered me a good time, here I am thinking she means x-box and a couple of beers at a party or something. I was in 8th grade, I didn't think I'd get hit on by a prostitute on my way home from school."

"So your first was with a prostitute? Legendary, man!" Mariku commented sarcastically before Bakura's glare shut him up.

"I'm not done. So we head back to her place, right? Here I am thinking there'll be this party or something but her house's pretty empty. And I'm thinking non perverted and I ask her to get the party started. So of course she starts stripping and I freak out. What? I'm British, I'm supposed to be a bit of prude, and she's butt ugly." His glare intensified. "And so I made a few more than douche comments and I'm about to leave when this guy comes up from behind and asks me what I'm doing with his woman. Apparently no one treats his whore like that, so he rips my pants off and makes me take it up the ass. I ran out screaming."

"You're a sissy. You should've just slept with the girl." Mariku's eyebrows showed how humorous he found the situation. "I pick dare, before you ask."

"I dare you to find the girliest item of clothing you can find, and put Malik in it. Without waking him up."

Mariku almost upchucked. "Hey! The girliest thing we have in here is our sister Ishizu's wedding dress and she'd kill us if we touched it! We're not supposed to touch anything of hers that she left here on her last visit! Can't I just put him in some of her girly clothes?"

"As long as they're really girly. And I want him in a skirt." Bakura knew that Malik was dead tired, so even if he did wake up, he'd probably pass out in seconds.

"Your cruelty knows no bounds!" Mariku came back from their sister's room with a plaid pink mini skirt and a light pink shirt with a cherry blossom pattern in the bottom left. Bakura approved.

Bakura ruthlessly yanked off the lavender hoodie that Malik had been wearing before and Mariku pulled on the blouse. Bakura's finger lingered at Malik's waist before he sighed. Malik would never talk to him again if he did strip him of his pants unknowingly.

"You're taking off his pants. I don't want him to kill me when he wakes up." Bakura handed over the sleeping Egyptian to his brother, who grinned evilly.

"It's quite the view. But judging by the skirt I'll have to change his underwear too. You can't wear boxers underneath a skirt that short." Mariku grinned. Bakura sighed.

"You two are sick. I can't believe you've seen your brother without clothes on and noticed whether he was attractive to you or not." Bakura made sure his back was toward the brothers as he heard a swish and a click. He heard the cargos fall to the floor and an irritated pulling sound. If he hadn't known what was going on, he'd have been grinning and thinking dirty thoughts by now.

"Like you haven't looked at Ryou like that." Mariku snorted.

"I haven't, because I'm not like you."

Poor Malik. Bakura could imagine that so clearly, the bronze skin on the darker tanned, pressed tightly together, legs wrapped together and mouths sealed in such a poisonous kiss…

Luckily, he wasn't so poor that Malik was spared from him thinking of his brother doing questionable things to him. Especially in that skirt. Bakura grinned cheekily. Ah… who said being a pervert wasn't fun?

"I'm done with the princess." Mariku giggled. "She looks very good in it, too."

Bakura turned around and looked over Malik. The plaid skirt didn't fit quite right because of how Mariku had put it on. Most girls unzipped their skirts when they went to put them on. Mariku had just yanked it over Malik's head and so it looked rather wrong, being caught on his hipbone. Bakura sighed.

He grabbed the waist and unzipped it enough so he could rearrange it before rezipping it back up and admiring his work.

Much, much better.

"That looked really gay, what you just did there." Mariku commented offhandedly.

"You don't know how to put on skirts." Bakura shot back. "Need to know basis if you want a decent girlfriend. They hate it after sex when you have to help them back into their clothes and you can't put their skirt on right. Makes you look really dumb."

Mariku sputtered. "That's my brother!"

"I didn't sleep with him, did I?" Bakura smirked at the spiky haired teen's discomfort. "I was just saying it's a useful skill one such as yourself would use far more than I…"

Bakura, 1. Mariku, 0.

Malik mumbled something in his sleep before leaning on the albino's chest. Bakura flashed Mariku a triumphant grin. Mariku scowled.

"Now let's get settled back on the couch so this little one can get some sleep." Bakura picked Malik up easily and carried him like a child back to their sitting place. Mariku raised an eyebrow.

"You're making my brother sleep in that? Cruel bastard."

The white haired teen smirked. It lingered on his face this time. He had a million come backs, but instead he wanted quiet. Stupid blonde's fault, sleeping on him. "I pick dare."

Mariku blinked in a way that resembled his brother. Oh, truth or dare. They were playing that. He chuckled. How Bakura loved sarcasm. Mariku seemed to be trying to think of something good to make him do. It was curious to think of what torturous things could come out of that mouth.

"I dare you to… um… mo… molest my brother without waking him up?" He finished lamely. The pale teen nodded.

"And while I'm doing this, I suppose you want a question for truth, correct?" Bakura asked, running his fingers up the tanned skin the pink shirt barely covered. It was too big for him, since it allowed room for a larger chest, one which the teen didn't have. He felt strange bumps and he ran his entire hand this time instead of just his fingers. It was like writing… in scars?

He hadn't seen Malik's back when he'd yanked off the hoodie, was he hiding something on his back? Like these scars? Curious, he rucked up the shirt and stared at the Egyptian's back. He was right. It was covered in scars. Burn scars, knife scars, he couldn't tell. But they were beautiful and hideous at the same time.

He glanced at Mariku's nervous face. "How about this then? What the hell are these?" Bakura hissed, motioning to the designs those wounds had made.

"It's a long story I'm not sure you want to hear…" Mariku trailed off. Bakura snarled. Mariku held up his hands in surrender.

"-But I'll tell you anyways! We used to be tomb keepers in Egypt. But once they found out about our powers we were marked too dangerous and made to leave with our family and our few belongings. They apologized, and didn't force him to remove his scars even though they spill ancient secrets." Mariku said cautiously. "We can read them, but I can't tell you what they say. The price of doing so means I'll have my tongue cut off and Malik's scars will have to be burned off."

"You don't have the same pattern on your back?" Bakura asked, curious and disgusted all at once.

"I don't. I was forced to let them remove mine before… it has nothing to do with Malik, but if I hadn't had mine removed, he'd have never gotten his. I was the oldest born into our family, and once I betrayed the tomb keepers they decided Malik needed his. I wasn't fit to be leader of the family."

Mariku took off his shirt and Bakura saw the huge, hideous scar that covered the older brother's entire back. Warped where once had been regular, pure skin. Bakura tried not to be as repulsed as he was.

"I'm glad I'm just British, now." He murmured, stroking lines on Malik's skin, if that could somehow ease the pain those scars obviously brought him. They looked horrid.

"Oh, yes, because being a tea sucker without cooking skills is so much better than having a couple scars." Mariku rolled his eyes. "It's not all of us, racist bastard. We were just unlucky. So shut up."

Bakura returned his eyes to Malik. Whereas he didn't mind treading where his feet were unwelcome, he knew when to back off. He didn't have the desire to do any fighting, not when he'd gotten so far along with Malik. Changing the topic, he shrugged."I think we should go to sleep now. The light's bothering him, and I'm tired enough as it is. Acting hyper makes me run out of energy fast."

Mariku didn't say anything. Bakura wondered if it was just a sensitive subject or if he'd actually hit a nerve because the annoying prankster was surprisingly quiet. It was eerie enough without the sudden silence. Mariku flicked the lights out before heading back to the two brothers's room. Bakura sighed, and curled up on the couch with the younger of the two.

* * *

><p>New York was big. Scary big. Bakura groaned.<p>

"Jet lag, much?" Malik hissed. He was still pissed off from that morning, in which he'd found himself wearing girl's clothes and in a very compromising position. Bakura'd hate to admit how much he'd enjoyed the exotic teen in those clothes, but it was true.

He enjoyed seeing the younger brother whenever, where-ever, wearing whatever. Whatever consisted of a light hoodie, and as usual it was midriff-baring. He looked like he would freeze his ass off in ten minutes flat. "PMS, much?" He responded.

Malik continued to stew irritatedly. Mariku laughed. "You two would be cute if both of you didn't have asshole tendencies. Now help me get a fucking taxi."

Taxies were the only way one could really get around in the city above ground. It was fucking huge, really huge. No one could really count all the millions of people they saw crowding the streets here in Times Square.

To imagine how small this place must've started, and how huge it has grown… miracle to witness, if one really thought about it. Bakura rubbed his forehead in irritation. "Why can't we just take the subway?"

"You're the one who's supposed to sightsee for Ryou." Malik grumbled. His dark mood hadn't lightened over the jet flight, and even though it was just afternoon, he looked just miserable. Bakura could hazard a guess and say he felt even worse.

Waking up in girl's clothes did that to someone.

They had been on a Jet here and it didn't do any of them good. Mariku seemed to handle it best, but that was just because Malik was being bitchy and Bakura was a general grump.

Bakura did have to hold in a smile though. New York was stunning. Even more so just walking by, heading somewhere… having the buildings loom over the three of them and make them feel small and insignificant.

Now those were buildings Bakura couldn't juggle with his mind.

"Remember we still have to talk to Mokuba on how the infiltration is going." Mariku chided the both of them. He was wearing a dark purple hoodie, and at the current moment he shed the article of clothing and gave it to his brother. Said brother had started shivering.

Bakura was glad that he'd packed very warm clothes then. He was wearing a jacket, as he wasn't about to be a retard like Mariku and give it up. It was cold as hell in New York. They thought that the little seaside Californian town they lived in was cold this time of year.

Oh, no, how they were wrong. This was redefining freezing.

"Mokuba? You didn't explain me what the hell that's about." Bakura commented.

"Mokuba Kaiba is our… friend on the inside." Mariku answered coldly.

The albino yelped. "Kaiba? As in, Kaiba corp.? I thought you said Kaiba was the one-"

Malik slapped his hand over Bakura's mouth before he spill any secrets. Once Bakura had stewed down, he removed his bronze hand from the pale, pink lips they'd covered. Even though Bakura could've handled those warm fingers lingering… especially since it was fucking cold.

"Mokuba is the CEO's little brother. He's normal but he's on our side. Especially since he thinks this is some huge suicide plot by his brother." Malik hissed in his ear. Bakura nodded hastily. He was afraid that he'd stammer if he spoke at the current moment, and he was far too cool to be seen stammering. The warmth pressed up against his back wasn't something he could pretend he was used to.

"You guys do know that I never agreed to your harebrained scheme." He pointed out once Malik had taken a step back to stand next to his brother. They stood out standing together like that, under the grey sky. They were both so bright. If both of them hadn't looked so serious, they would've been photogenic.

"Yes, well… You wanted to come to New York. You were the one who made up that whole hyper shit to make fun of the dumb one and get out of the house to see what the hell we were trying to get you into. All deals above grounds, yes?" Mariku snapped. He seemed annoyed at this. Probably remembering the 'sexual harassment' his brother had come to at Bakura's hands.

The white haired teen smirked. "Yes. You can't trick me, or lie to me. I want to meet this Mokuba. Might be useful in how to get rid of you two later."

Malik snorted. "Get rid of us? There is no way you are getting rid of me. Mariku, you might throw off but I know what we need when I see it. I'm not letting it go, bitch." He shoved his hands into his pocket and nodded his head toward the large building they had walked to. "Stop one."

Bakura looked at the emblem. Some big game company. All he knew of it was that the CEO was rumored to be famously gay. Pegasus J. Crawford.

"We're meeting Mokuba here. His brother brought him along on a meeting with Pegasus and Mokuba is going to leave and speak with us under his brother's nose. We just have to wait until he gives us clear. Any second now, really." Mariku answered his unasked question.

They all sat down on a bench across from the entrance. For some reason they couldn't just enter it. Prolly because there were cameras or something. Bakura had had enough after about ten minutes of small talk.

"Hey! I'm not going to be part of your stupid thing, can I go in and not freeze to death?"

"No. We're pretty recognizable faces, you'd say. And once you're seen with us, you're acknowledged as part of our little cliché and then they treat you like us. If they see you, they'll suspect us. I think there's a diner somewhere down the road if you'd like to miss meeting Mokuba." Malik snarked back. Bakura knew that the Egyptian had a point, but… he hated how cold it was. His hands were tingling and going numb from the chill.

He scooted closer to his friend for warmth. Mariku snickered as they leaned into each other. Bakura sent him a glare that silenced him. For now, anyway.

"Why do you two have to be so snuggly all the time? You aren't even together." Mariku asked, tone slightly disgusted.

Bakura stomped on his foot.

"Bitch." Mariku hissed.

"Guys! I'm sorry I'm late, Seto didn't want me to leave when it was so cold! Um… Malik? Did you get a boyfriend or something?" A cheery childish voice chirped. It was way to chipper for the cold weather. It belonged to a raven haired, black eyed preteen at most wearing a bright red jacket and baby blue jeans.

"Nice to see you again, Mokuba." Malik answered with a overly large smile. "Meet Bakura, our partner in crime. He just hasn't consented to that yet."

Bakura shoved the tanned teen for introducing him like that. "I'm never becoming your partner in crime! I already told you, all I care about is keeping Ryou safe and staying out of jail!"

Lies. He cared about more than that. He cared about Malik. He cared about himself. And he cared enough to try and make sure he kept Malik.

"It's nice to meet you, Bakura. I'm Mokuba. We're here to talk business, right? I suppose you have a reason for coming here to talk about it, I've sent you all the updates you wanted." Mokuba grinned. He started to walk off away from the building and they trio followed. It wasn't like they had a better place to go to.

Mokuba lead them to the park, which Bakura had conviently forgotten the name of. The big apple? No, that was the city's nickname. Well it was a big park. Central park, maybe?

"We need to talk to you about Bakura, actually. He's being assigned to community service at the morgue, but I want him assigned to community service for Kaiba corp. An easy spy. He can do crazy shit." Mariku brought the topic on all of their minds frontward's. Malik nodded while Bakura bit back an angry retort.

"A spy? What qualifications does he have? Is he a power holder?" Mokuba sat down on the swings nearest them. Malik followed suit and sat down on the swing next to the black haired preteen.

"Yeah, he's a power holder. He's perfect at most aspects of his power, despite his age, and he's free work. What do you say?" Mariku answered once again. Bakura noted that Malik was being oddly quiet. He wondered what was up with the PMSing teen but he didn't mention anything about it.

"A power holder, huh… What's his power? What can he do?"

Before Bakura could demonstrate anything, screams were heard all throughout the park. A man was standing at the window and Bakura barely saw a foot kick him out the window. There were more than 30 floors to go and gain speed before the man hit the ground.

Dammit.

Normally Bakura would've just watched him die, but… he didn't want to see Malik, whose eyes were already stricken with fear and disgust, already afraid to close them and miss not seeing the truth of this man's demise. He didn't want to see Mokuba, who began to scream also and his eyes were full of false hope that somehow the man would live. He didn't want to hear the maniacal screams that were wracking Mariku's body in what seemed like crazed delight.

Did he really want to sacrifice himself? It was too kind. He wasn't a savior of lives, he was a killer… But Bakura already knew his actions.

He felt the power rush through him, and flow out. He didn't want to see if he'd managed it, managed to save the man. He was far too exhausted. The sheer distance between him and the man caused him to be so weak at something he usually considered easy.

When he heard the screams stop, he realized he'd saved him. The man was dangling in midair by his foot. Bakura didn't dare smile, he focused on slowly and gently placing the man down 10 stories below where he was caught.

"That good enough for a demonstration?" Bakura panted once his 'saving' of the man was complete. Malik and Mokuba turned wide owlish eyes to him. A smile stretched across both their faces. Mariku just started laughing his ass off.

"You made the news, 'Kura! You so made the news!" Mariku's laughs turned more and more insane as he said this. Malik pushed his older brother aside as he promptly glomped the albino.

"You saved him! You saved him, and you didn't even have to! Thank you! Thank you! Um… thanks." Malik blushed sheepishly as he hung onto Bakura long after he could've let go. "I can say I adore you now. Can I have your autograph?"

The last bit was a bit snarky, but when wasn't Malik fiery in some way? Malik had pulled away by now, and he was awkwardly holding Bakura's hands. He was glad of the extra warmth. He had nothing to hide from the world; even if he wasn't entirely normal, he'd already excepted that.

"No, you can't. But I'll tell you what you can have." Bakura grinned cheekily back. Malik paused for a second.

"Hm?"

The two partially frozen teenagers smiled awkwardly at each other. Bakura was almost afraid to say, but then he realized that this was Malik. Malik prolly couldn't tell a hippo from a rhino, let alone send a properly written letter. Malik had to keep things honest with him. All he hoped was that he wouldn't regret this later…

"Me. I'll help you two take down Kaiba. I'll protect the school, whatever. But one condition. I'm your partner, not your subordinate." Bakura answered after the silence. Malik got a funny look in his eyes, before jumping up and down in excitement.

"Yes. Oh, yes… Mariku! Mariku, HE AGREED! YES! YES! YES!" Malik did a little happy dance, shaking Bakura's arms up and down, since they were still attached at the hands. "I can't believe it! You were so certain you never wanted to help us, but now you are! YAY!"

"Shut up!" Mariku yelled in embarrassment. People had already started looking at the jubilant teen and taking pictures. "They are getting freaking married, now stop staring!" He barked at the onlookers.

Bakura dropped Malik's hands in an instant. Oh hell no, marry Malik? He'd rather eat Ryou's hair products!

Malik seemed too excited to care. He bounced over to his brother before glomping him forcefully, as Mariku looked ready to find a chainsaw. Actually, there was a pencil in Mariku's hand poised over his brother's throat. Bakura cackled. Oh yes, could today get any better?

Goal: achieved.

* * *

><p>Actually, could it get any worse?<p>

Mokuba had set him up to be a 'worker' at Kaiba Corp, conviently near Ryou's 'friendship gang' at the Kaiba Corporation office building down the street from the workplace. Whatever that meant. They didn't even work there! Damned if Bakura didn't have the right to act like a wet kitty. He was fucked pissed.

He couldn't stand those little freaks.

Yugi was the poster-child for abortion. Anzu was some slut gone wrong. Don't get him started on Joey, he was a plain freak of the Brooklyn nature. And Bakura had just been to New York, he'd seen enough freaks of a Brooklyn nature. Tristan sounded like he'd been slurping up Helium. Ryuuji or Duke or whatever was the definition of a man whore. Yami, he wanted to slice open with a machete, and Ryou was their sweet little angel that none of them appreciated.

Like he wanted to deal with any of them, not with them knowing he was only working near them because Bakura'd gotten community service. Humiliation. They were probably only listed as his friends so that they had free reign to come in while he was working and harass him. For assaulting Ryou, of all things. With a glass table. Yes, because the common household injuries associated with tables usually got one arrested.

Okay, so he'd lost control of his power. That didn't make him an attempted murderer.

Oh, irony. How Bakura loved irony.

Mariku plopped down next to him on the bed of their hotel room. Shabby, but it had clean walls, a clean bed, a clean bathroom, and a working toilet. For last minute notice, it was a good deal. And they were also on a budget.

Too bad Mokuba was Kaiba's little brother. If he was just some other rich kid, they'd get free rooming from him.

"Check your phone. I think princess sent you a message. I don't see why he doesn't just call and talk to us." Mariku whined. Bakura cuffed him around the head before grabbing the sleek black iPhone he'd purchased for himself this Christmas. He never really used it, but Ryou wanted to text him like a normal person instead of having Bakura just send him messages telepathically. Especially since Ryou couldn't respond.

Bakura entered his password, ********, and checked his inbox. Yep. About 20 new messages from Ryou.

**/Ry it's Kura. Calm down we're fine./ **He texted.

**/I was so worried Kura! Are you okay? Did the plane crack?/**

**/*crash/**

**/No, we're all okay. Stop freaking out. I saved a guy today./**

**/From dying/**

**/With my brain/**

**/You used your POWERS IN THE OPEN?/**

**/Long Distance/**

**/No one saw but Mal and Mar/**

**/Oh I was worried that you'd do someone stupid./**

**/Ry, I HAVE STANDARDS, lmao/**

**/Oh, I'm so sorry! I meant something/**

**/Auto erection getting you down too?/**

**/Auto Correction/**

**/Yes it's stupid especially when I hit the wrong Jews./**

**/Jews./**

**/Keys!/**

**/testes/**

**/yes/**

**/DAMMIT!/**

**/Didn't know you liked that, Ry./**

Mariku leaned over to see what Bakura was cackling about. After a mini version of tug-o-phone, Mariku was giggle snorting at their typing fails.

"You're so making those on purpose." He snickered, wicked grin stretching his features.

"I am, poor Ryou's not. He just fails at phones, period. I'm surprised he can text at all." Bakura snatched his phone back before Mariku could reply to Ryou's latest text.

"Soooo… What am I missing, you two Hyenas." Malik was standing in the door way leading to the bathroom, wearing a t-shirt that was covered in little Rhinestones, bunny slippers, and his boxer shorts. If his outfit didn't scream gay, then Bakura needed his gaydar adjusted.

And the smoldering straightener in Malik's hands meant that the two of them were to shut up, and let him finish pruning his hair in peace. Bakura didn't want that thing anywhere near his head. Mariku shuddered at the purple bunny slipper wearing teenager approached them with murder in his eyes and the blood of his victims on his hair straightener.

They both raised their hands in surrender.

"Good. And it stays that way. We only have one bed, and hell if you two fucktards are ruining my beauty sleep." Malik stomped back into the bathroom.

They let out the sighs they'd been holding.

You never got near Malik with beauty supplies. It meant sudden death, and then you were dragged down to hell in which Malik acquired said beauty supplies.

**/The royal badonkadonk commands us to be silent. Bye, Ry/** Bakura texted, before turning off the mind control device.

"Now we both hush, unless you want to unleash the almighty bitchy powers of that one." Bakura whispered, holding in a fit of uncontrollable demonic laughter. Mariku pulled the blankets over his head. The albino snorted, before doing the same and sliding under the sheets.

Mariku, after much pruning and fussing, snuggled in between the two of them. He curled his knees in, so that they were pressed painfully into Bakura's back. The albino twitched. He was trying to sleep, not have his back mauled by the Egyptian's sharp kneecaps. Bakura thought about kicking the youngest brother, but…

If they woke up the now snoring Mariku, they would have to deal with hell of another kind. As mildly calm as he can be when he's not pyschotic, last morning had been testament to why you didn't wake up Mariku.

Bakura rolled over, trying to get more comfortable. These blankets were just about as useful as an ice cube in keeping him warm. He blinked, looking at the slightly open lavender eyes. Malik was still awake? He'd thought that Malik was already fast asleep.

"Hey. Why're you awake?" Bakura whispered into Malik's mind. The telepathic thing was useful for the first time. Hm…

"I can't sleep here. It's cold." Malik whispered back, his normally rich tones made him sound sick without the color his voice added. "I'm scared of being cold forever… That's why."

Bakura snorted. Scared of being cold? How pathetic. "Such a simple fix, partner." Bakura replied, tucking his arms around the goose-bumped Egyptian. Also, in an added bonus, doing so forced Malik's knees down from Bakura's stomach.

Ulterior Motive Alarm: BEEP BEEP BEEP.

"We… I thought for certain that you were just messing around with me, and while I didn't mind it too much… Now I'm just confused." Malik's voice cracked.

Bakura frowned. He didn't even know what he was doing when it came to interacting with people. He didn't know if that's how he came across. Mariku and Malik were the first people outside of Ryou to talk to him in a friendly manner.

"I don't know if I could. I might be without knowing it." Bakura replied, happy with the living heater in his arms shifting his weight off his elbow and snuggling in closer to his chest.

Malik smiled against his shirt. "No lies between us. Promise?"

Bakura snuggled a little closer for warmth (darn these ratty blankets) and nodded. He treated all of his friends with honesty. And since Malik was his partner, he deserved nothing less. Malik continued smiling until both of them had fallen into a deep sleep.

Neither noticed Mariku's eyes snap open and his mouth curl into a snarl.

* * *

><p>The plane ride back didn't leave Bakura in a better mood. Neither did the fact that Mariku was continuously harassing him now. What? Okay- so he slept with Malik, but that doesn't mean you can spit out comments about people's every quality making them shitheads. And Mariku was in the same bed! It wasn't as if they'd had sex or something!<p>

Bakura grinned. Really now. Sex sounded really fucking amazing, but he had enough shame not to screw Mariku's little brother in the same bed as him. He wasn't that much of a two faced bastard. He'd at least of requested a threesome.

Malik grinned at him. "I suppose we'll be parting ways here." They were standing at Baggage claim, and the twins had already grabbed all their things off the conveyor belt. The warmer Californian air was a welcome change.

Bakura turned to look where Malik nodded to. Ah. Ryou. Looking terrified, nervously glancing about to check on his health and wellbeing. Bakura let an easy grin adorn his face as he waved. Back to the worry wart. But Bakura couldn't help but miss his brother, just a little bit.

"'Kura! I knew letting you go on a four night trip away would be a nightmare! You know your trial is tomorrow!" Ryou was gasping for air after ranting. Bakura pulled him into a hug.

"I missed you too." Bakura ruffled his hair affectionately. Mariku glared at the both of them. Bakura turned on him like a mother cat defending her kitten. "And what is your problem? Ryou is my brother! You can get the fuck off my back for everything! You got what you wanted." He seethed.

Mariku snarled. "What I didn't want was for you to be making moves on everything that's mine! My brother, my place, my job, even stupid unimportant Ryou thinks you're better than me!"

Bakura dropped Ryou in a second. Malik was sending his brother wary glances, his eyes flitting between the two, as if deciding on how to stop the two. Ryou whimpered, as if hating being forced to pick a side between the them.

Between your brother, who'd hurt you and others if not extraordinarily careful, or the seemingly more calm crush of his. The answer was just so difficult. Bakura sneered.

"I'm his brother, of course Ryou loves me! More than I can say for you! Ryou doesn't care a shred for your little shitty games you're pulling here! I'm not stealing your job, you wanted me to do this shit for you! So shut up, you don't even think of what's coming out of your large ass mouth!"

"I deserve everything this life has to offer, and that means my places in life shouldn't be stolen by a stupid albino thief! My brother's love and care all goes to you! I thought that'd all stop once we had you on our side, that he'd stop fucking around, but no, he was serious! Fucking retard! I thought that I'd be leader of the operations, protector of my family and my friends, but no that's you now too! Malik's fucking partner was supposed to be me! And Ryou shouldn't let some stupid thief claim all of his love, since you obviously don't deserve it!"

Bakura took a step back.

"You being stupid! Apparently I judged you all wrong, I thought for a second you weren't some retarded bloody cunt! But no, you're being a bitch about this whole fucking thing! Be a bint! Be an arsehole! I can't deal with you and your stupid fucking shit any longer!"

Bakura ran off just as the airport police showed up. Mariku stood there, arms crossed, eyes burning a dark purple, so dark they seemed black. His spiky hair stood up straighter, it seemed. There were veins on his forehead, and his voice sounded strange.

Even Malik was slightly scared of him. And so, Malik decided that the most comfort would have to be dealt to Bakura. Picking the near stranger over his brother sounded cruel, but Malik only got beaten up when he faced off with Mariku like this.

Malik's power and love for fire sparked his abilities to be playful and energetic. His source of strength came from the inner peace that flooded him with the flickering flames. His weakness was when it was fueled by his anger and went out of control. Not that his power was weaker, but when it wasn't controlled it never did anything he wanted it to.

Mariku was different. Mariku's power to control water got stronger with hatred, fury, and chaos. When he was peaceful, he merely flowed around his problems. He didn't use his powers because he simply lacked the strength to do so. He'd take the easiest path around things, unless his fury was overpowering and he crushed and drowned everything in his path.

Malik couldn't find his inner peace strong enough not to be extinguished. Ryou on the other hand, had a sweet face and sweet words, ones that Malik didn't have the sense to display.

Bakura needed to sulk and whine. Mariku needed to be calmed down and comforted. Malik knew which one he could better benefit.

Without a second thought, he ran off to where Bakura was heading.

* * *

><p><strong>Longer chappie? Oh wow, a ton of reviews! Thank you all so much for your support and love! I'm glad you all like it. In all of my story writing, I think that's the first time one chapter has gotten so many reviews! I hope I don't disappoint! Thanks again! Um, no idea when the next chapter is coming out, but I'll try to make is sooner rather than later!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

Ryou finished assuring the police that yes, they were okay, and that they wouldn't make such a scene again. Then he turned to Mariku, whose eyes, although dark, were shadowed by hurt from seeing his own brother do something that, in his eyes, was the same as abandoning him.

"Mariku…?" Ryou asked softly. The question might've been unspoken, but his tone spoke volumes. Mariku looked at him before giving a painful whine from the back of his throat. Ryou didn't think.

The much smaller albino pulled the both of them over to the benches before he reached out and pulled the tall Egyptian into his arms gently. His pale hand stroked the large spikes back. Mariku moaned weakly into the masses of white hair piled on top of Ryou's head.

"Why… did… everyone choose him… Wasn't I good enough?" Mariku mumbled.

Ryou smiled sadly, thinking of his own troublesome brother. "Sometimes there's no choosing involved. Like I don't have to choose or not choose you because of how good you are. I let both of you stay in my heart, because both of you are important to me. It doesn't matter if one is better than another."

Mariku growled in irritation. "But that's just pity. I hate pity."

Ryou shrugged. "If you want, I really be forced to choose. When Bakura ran off, I could've run after him and Malik. Obviously he doesn't deserve my pity."

Mariku snarled. Ryou patted his head gently again. Kind of like a dog. Men with tempers seemed to like it when they were treated more like a beast, Ryou made a note.

"That irritates me." He scowled. "I hate gentle shit. Why? If you're going to do something, then why tease? Why touch someone softly when you can show more care if you try and leave bruises so they don't forget you? Why bother saying gentle things if people can tell you care more if you scream out your feelings?"

"Because." The albino stroked the platinum blonde hair a little rougher this time. "Because if you care so much, then all you need is a light touch to display all your feelings. I have enough that just a simple touch can convey my message."

"But if you have more, then why don't you let it all out?" Mariku seemed pacified from the soft touches and the calm, and maybe if Ryou let himself admit it, loving words.

"You don't need to. You don't know how to express it all, there's so much. So a light touch, a small thing, a tiny decision. And they care too, so they notice." Ryou explained, it seemed so simple to him. Like it was just a second nature to him. To Mariku, it was like a complicated puzzle. Ryou hoped he was explaining it right. "And it means more to them because they realize the person is able to express much more, but doesn't need to."

"I don't understand." Mariku leaned back into Ryou's side.

Ryou chuckled, hands continuously fingering Mariku's platinum blonde spikes. He didn't notice the man in the suit, tall and handsome, who tilted his hat down farther to cover his eyes, who smirked, who had played the most key part in the situation.

* * *

><p>Bakura was pissed. How DARE he? Bakura hadn't done anything wrong! He'd read those stupid books, those dumb magazines, watched those stupid self improvement shows. He hadn't done anything too out of protocol, did he? He wouldn't know.<p>

No one ever had been his friend before. So one of his first friends turned against him. Who gave a damn. He didn't. Why should he care, he'd lived so long without such stupid things. Ryou had the answers, but of course Ryou stayed behind.

Ryou never did anything for him anyways.

Malik nibbled on his ear gently. A small reminder. Don't forget me. Bakura responded easily, he gave the attention hog what he wanted; more attention.

He gave him a gentle kiss before rubbing circles on Malik's cheek. Princess, Bakura thought, but he didn't mind too much to give his partner affection. It wasn't hard work. It might not be enjoyable, but he liked the touching. But just touching was boring. Bakura kissed him again, deeper and more passionate. Once they'd kissed and snuggled enough till Malik was feeling happily loved and Bakura was distracted from the pulsing anger in his veins, Bakura decided to try and speak.

"So where do we stand? What's with your jack ass brother?" Bakura murmured into Malik's hair. He could feel Malik stiffen up. No, Bakura thought. Bad question. He made a mental note, but he didn't really give a damn to follow up and try to be sociable at the moment. Screw Ryou and his friendly ideals.

"He's jealous of you. That's where we stand." Malik said, hesitating.

"That's not what I mean when I asked the first question." Bakura realized that he'd just snapped, and he didn't want to give off the impression he was angry at Malik. Because he wasn't, that was dumb. Your brother wasn't you.

Trying to amend his actions, Bakura leaned back into Malik's chest. They'd melded together outside on a bus bench in the parking lot. The loud noises drowned out their talk but it did prevent eavesdroppers.

Malik chewed on his bottom lip in frustration. "I don't know."

Bakura snorted. Weren't blondes the ones who were supposed to know relationship shit? And Malik seemed like a soap opera, cry on the sofa type of kid. Well, from what the albino knew, it was confusing, but Malik should've had a lot more relationship knowledge than he did. He should've had a better grasp of the situation.

Guess not.

"What comes before the dating part?" Bakura asked loudly, attracting a few looks from the crowd. Bakura smirked and reveled in the attention. Look, if they dared. But if they commented, then Bakura would carve their eyeballs out with spaghetti sticks, and curiosity kills the cat once again.

"The awkward crush part." Malik replied, pretty sure of himself. "That part sucks the worst."

"Ah. I guess that's where I stand, excluding your arsehole of a brother, and my obvious lack of knowledge on social situations. For all I know, you may be a whore, and I'm Jack the Ripper." The albino grinned slyly. Malik gave him a light bop on the head, happy and not embarrassed about it.

"I skipped that stage." Malik announced, and seemingly endlessly proud of it. Bakura raised an eyebrow in faked surprise.

"Skipped? Like you skipped a rock, or just that you excluded that step? And what did you skip to?" He asked. "If the next stage is dating, that is."

"I skipped like I excluded." Malik explained, irritated with Bakura's obvious joking. Bakura considered he might actually be serious, and he didn't like that implication.

"So you're dating someone?" Bakura inferred, irritated. Malik wasn't his, but still. Bakura wanted to keep all other competition out. Partners were partners, and Malik was his partner. In Bakura's world, all the sexy men and women of the world were single and available. Or soon would be.

"No, I skipped that step too."

For some reason, that short answer relieved most of Bakura's worries. And then the next thing popped into Bakura's mind, even more scandalous than Bakura usually would've thought of. The albino disapproved of this idea even more than the dating phrase. Death might become unavoidable for a certain select someone. "So what's after that? Marriage? Engagement? Are you married?"

"You're kind of cute when you act like a dumbass." Malik ruffled his hair. "No, the next step after that is love. Then commitment, then engagement, then marriage, ending with divorce or death."

"So you're on love now? Who do you love?" Bakura looked up into Malik's amethyst eyes, amused and relieved at the same time. The force of his mighty and incomparable ego was in fully display as he smirked, staring down Malik with the suggestion. "Me?"

Malik merely kissed him in response, shameless and sexy. Bakura could take that however he wanted, and he wanted to take it as a yes.

* * *

><p>Bakura and Ryou didn't speak on the car ride home from the airport. Neither did they all through lunch, dinner, and breakfast. Only when it was time for Bakura's trial did they say a word. Ryou unlocked the car irritatedly.<p>

"Get in." was the first thing he'd said all day.

Bakura couldn't drive half as well as Ryou, but Ryou could drive only one person around in a car at a time. Legally at least. Bakura still needed to get all his hours so he could do the same. The instructors were always slightly scared of him.

Especially when he drove without having his hands on the wheel. They didn't seem to count feet as a legal way to steer. Or knees. Or just his mind. Lamers.

"You look like shit. I can't believe you." Ryou finally hissed. Now Bakura wanted to punch his white fluff ball of a brother.

"WHAT THE HELL, RYOU? I can't believe YOU!" Bakura exploded, his anger radiating off him in waves of murderous intent. "You don't talk to me all the way home, not during lunch, and not during dinner while we were sitting NEXT to each other. And this morning you weren't ready to talk-"

"Because you have the nerve to be a whore and use Malik like that! Why do I just find out now, from Mariku, that you and Malik have been all lovey-dovey for the last few days, and I know that you aren't someone who does any sort of serious relationship! Every single girl that tries to go out with you-"

"NO ONE HAS TRIED TO GO OUT WITH ME! Akefia was the one! I'm NOT our big brother! No one talks to me! They were the first other than you!" Bakura was too angry to see how wrong his brother was acting, how completely out of character. He never even considered it.

"That's NOT TRUE!" He blindly protested. Bakura snarled.

"You don't even know what sort of person I am in that regard, you just think I'm like Akefia! I'm NOT AKEFIA! I KILLED HIM!" Bakura slammed his fist down hard on the dashboard, hard enough to dent it. Ryou opened and closed his mouth like a guppy.

"You… I hate you! I wish you'd died instead of Akefia!" Ryou screeched, his eyes wild and possessed. "Akefia always knew what to say when we first discovered my curse! But NO! YOU HAD TO GO AND RUIN IT! WHY DIDN'T YOU DIE INSTEAD?"

Bakura opened the car door and jumped straight out into the street. Fuck his trial, he'd go on the lamb if it meant he didn't have to deal with his bitchy little asshole brother who didn't know shit. First, he accused him falsely of things that he'd never even done, then he goes so far as to say Bakura should be dead instead.

Bakura knew what he'd done in the past was unforgivable, killing their brother, but he hadn't mean to hurt anyone. It was forever ago, he'd made a mistake, and Ryou blamed him for it like he'd meant to kill his own brother! If anything, Bakura thought disgruntledly and also a little madly, it was really Ryou's fault.

Their parents spent all of their time babying their poor whittle Ryou because of his dangerous curse. Bakura was forgotten. Akefia was always taking care of pathetic tiny Ryou. Bakura had no one, nothing. No one to realize that he needed help too, he couldn't control his powers and that they were dangerous.

"Well, congrats, I'm going to go to my trial the easy way instead of dealing with your shit!" Bakura sneered back at his brother who had begun driving after him, staring at him shocked.

Releasing all of his energy in a blast, Bakura felt the familiar surroundings of the court's bathroom appear. Might as well get this over with. Ryou could arrive on his own and deal with his own shit.

* * *

><p>As Mokuba had arranged, Bakura was assigned to work at the local Kaiba Co. building. But according to Mokuba, he had to be careful since Kaiba had sniffed out their school and was coming to investigate by moving into it soon.<p>

Mariku and Ryou hadn't said a word to him since the airport and courtroom incident. Malik had disappeared, not even a call or a text since that kiss, and so Bakura was stuck with a strange group of people that he didn't even tolerate on the best of days. Ryou's old friends, the ones he'd abandoned to hang off Mariku's arm.

Oh, shoot him. Bakura didn't know if he could stand to play along with anymore of this. This was physically painful.

"So Bakura… Where's Ryou?"

"Over there. Being a little slut with Mariku." Bakura grumbled, not bothering to hide his blatant hatred of her, as Tea asked the generic question of the day. They were wondering why Ryou, who'd been their loyal friend for quite some time, had literally left them in the dust. And why Yugi suddenly said Bakura could sit at their table, practically forcing him down into the cafeteria's table with many protests from all of them and Bakura.

Somehow sitting here had become ritual. At least they fed him and generally let him do whatever he wanted. If he tried to sit elsewhere, Yugi would crack down on him, treat him like a misbehaving pet, and force him to loose his control over the school.

"Well, at least he's happy with his boyfriend." Yugi chimed, picking apart his sandwich. He handed the ham to Bakura and the tomatoes to Yami, leaving himself with bread, mayo, turkey, and cheese.

Bakura ate the meat happily. Since Ryou made all the food, he'd been living off ham and whatever else nobody wanted at the table. The friendship gang had some useful qualities. Like mooch-ability. Ryou refused to let him into the kitchen, and Bakura didn't have a job. He had community service.

Yami placed the tomatoes elegantly onto his own sandwich. "I don't like that Melvin guy."

The whole table was silent. Until Bakura burst out laughing, the most amused he'd been since Malik had left without a word.

"It's Mariku! Not Melvin! But that's just epic! Ha ha ha ha! I'm going to call him Melvin from now on!" Bakura cackled.

Yugi patted the red-faced Yami on the shoulder as everyone else began to laugh as well. "It's pretty epic, you have to admit."

Yami just started grumbling.

"So Bakura… You're working at Kaiba Co. right?" Joey asked, throwing him the crust off his peanut butter and jelly. Bakura wasn't too picky about what scraps he got as his only meal, so he ate them too. The way this was going, he was going to be a stick by the end of the week. From three cooked meals a day to one barely full snack.

"I don't work there, it's community service." Bakura popped the last crust into his mouth.

"Oh yeah, you beat up Ryou. With a table." Tea frowned, disapproving of his actions. Like he gave a damn. The bitch could go fuck herself with a tampon.

"I stepped on the table and glass went everywhere. I ran out the door, left him there. So he calls 911 like a retard and says he was assaulted. By my stepping on our table. Yep. I was so beating him up with a table." Bakura rolled his eyes. See? Honesty to his friends. That was the story he told the court, at least.

"Ryou doesn't lie!" Tristan protested. Bakura flipped him off.

"You saying I do?" Bakura snorted. "Because I'm as truthful as a girl scout."

Tea gave him another disapproving look. Really, Bakura wondered why he was still allowed to sit here, let alone forced. Really. Tea was the most worthless person he'd ever seen. Giving her a good look down, he planned his payback.

Bakura made the closest broom smack her in her ass. The squeal made it worth it.

"Bakura! You little-!" She held her hands over her bubble butt securely. "Actually, that means you're getting better with your powers, right?"

Whoops. Maybe he hadn't been as secretive as he'd liked. He whistled innocently.

"No wonder those twins said you weren't trying your hardest! You have to go show the teachers what you can do! All of it!"

Bakura froze. Okay, so he hit her with a broom. He'd killed his own brother… Maybe he deserved this. But… "I think I'm good here. And even if you tried, you still wouldn't be able to get me in there."

"Ugh! Why do you make him sit here?" Tea turned on Yugi.

"Because his only friend is currently in Egypt getting a few things for the two of us. And his brother and his brother's boyfriend are shunning him." Yami answered for his boyfriend.

Bakura turned on them, a cuckoo bird in a robin's nest. "You know where Malik is? And you didn't say anything?"

It was Yami's turn to be shocked. "He didn't tell you he was leaving? He left my house in your direction last week right after you came back from New York and he said he had to go tell you he was leaving! I thought you knew and just were sulking!"

Bakura grabbed Yami and Yugi and dragged them off into a corner away from Tea and the rest of them. "Tell me everything." He demanded, a furious glint in his eyes.

Ryou watched Bakura with his old friends, Ryou's thoughts fuzzy with emotions. Ugh. They never really cared about him anyways, so he didn't feel bad when he left them to sit with Mariku. Mariku wanted him all to himself, and Ryou didn't mind being coddled one bit. He enjoyed being loved. Cared about.

Bakura never had loved him. Bakura was heartless and an asshole.

But what did bother him was that Bakura got stuck with those annoying twats. Bakura could stand them, could be their friends, meaning that all this time that Ryou had been working so hard to make Bakura a friend all Bakura had to do was talk to someone and they'd become the bestest of buddies? All his hard work just to find out that Bakura had been lying about never being able to make friends!

What kind of horrible person did that to their own brother? Bakura! Bakura had no right to have friends after what he put Ryou through all this time! Ryou had suffered through his curse, thinking that Bakura was helping! Like hell Bakura was helping him and suffering too!

Bakura was the worst! And yet there he was, with friends and an evil grin on his face.

"Hey bunny… do you still love him? Even though he broke my brother's heart? Even though he broke your heart?" Mariku pulled Ryou into his lap.

Ryou thought about it. Did he still love his brother? Bakura was a killer, someone who only hurt, only betrayed trust and lied instead of told the truth, who'd have the world underneath his thumb if he got his way… A super villain.

"He's family. You always love family. I just don't want to love from nearby. I want to love his memory rather than him. Bakura needs to go down. He's far too dangerous." Ryou mused.

"Of course he does, pet." Mariku pulled him away from watching. Both of them didn't realize that a tall student had watched both of them, smirking at a job well done, then leaving with his hair covering his eyes.

* * *

><p>Bakura arrived to Kaiba Co. right on time. He knew that the place was strict, even on their janitors. On time, perfectly clean, etc. It was a place that Bakura didn't particularly like, even if Mokuba snuck down from the upper floors to talk to him about their plans. Mariku and Malik were the heads of the rebellion against them, but while Mariku was off doing whatever to Ryou and Malik was in Egypt, Bakura was now sort've in charge.<p>

He had bought a little black notebook that he carried in his pocket, and if he overheard anything he found even slightly suspicious or noteworthy, he wrote it down and gave it to Mokuba. The pages were double sided, meaning if someone ever confiscated it, they would flip through and find it empty. But if they flipped it inside out and around twice then unlocked the flip flap, they'd find that it was full of notes. Good thing the side flap was voice activated. Yugi's stupid game shop was useful sometimes.

Bakura was actually proud of himself for buying the thing. He thought it was a great idea from such a dull person like Yugi. Mokuba agreed and wanted to mass order the things.

But Mokuba had more things on his hands. Like staying out from underneath his older brother's eye. Bakura had seen Seto in his first week as a janitor and he could see why Mokuba was such a basket case sometimes. Seto was a full out psycho.

Malik hadn't got in touch Yami yet, but Yami stopped by Kaiba Co. every so often to keep him updated. Tea and the rest of them didn't know what was between the two of them, but that was probably better because they were doubly annoying and had nothing to do with it. Yami had said he was neutral, not on the side of the rebellion or against, so whatever Malik was doing wasn't related to the rebellion in the slightest.

That made Bakura very curious, but he trusted Yami not to lie. Yami was too much of an annoying goodie two shoes to lie to anyone.

Bakura sighed, and slipped on his uniform, when he spotted a curious face. Joey Wheeler. That annoying guy shouldn't be here in Kaiba Co. The little black notebook was out. *Joey visited Kaiba Co. at 4.15.56 PM on February 2nd* He scratched out with his pencil. He watched the blonde stand around the front office waiting.

Bakura raised an eyebrow. Was Joey on the other side? Why would Joey Wheeler of all the annoying people work against the rebellion? He seemed a more likely candidate for the other side than the Kaiba take over. He'd have to ask Mokuba if Joey was part of the rebellion or Kaiba's side. Or neither and he really had business here to deal with.

Wait, Kaiba Co. didn't do anything useful except rid the world of annoying people. There was no business an annoying person would have here.

Bakura decided that since Joey already knew he worked here, he might as well continue with his job and clean up the front office. Right before Bakura stepped out from the hallway, Kaiba walked out. Bakura froze. Of course, Seto Kaiba never visited the front office, he was the CEO. He had the upper floors to deal with. Why was he down here?

"Glad to know you're late." Kaiba sneered. Bakura pulled out his black notebook and began recording the whole conversation. Idiots didn't talk to Kaiba without reason. Kaiba was a bastard, but he wasn't an idiot.

"I'm so sorry that I actually go to school. Unlike some stupid bastards who have more fun running a large company than get smart-"

"You know perfectly well why I don't attend your disgraceful school, mutt. If you know what's good for your sister, then you'll come with me."

Bakura's eye widened. A threat! Joey was being forced to work with Kaiba for the safety of his sister? That made a lot more sense than him being on the wrong side… Bakura had to find out more! This was way more interesting than sweeping floors! Wait, everything was more interesting than sweeping floors… bleh, still worth it.

Kaiba lead Joey into a private elevator. It opened on his voice. That must take them to Kaiba's private rooms… Bakura watched as it closed. He had to get inside that elevator! This was like a super sexy spy movie, where Kaiba was the evil guy, and Bakura was the spy… ew, Joey would be the damsel in distress. Bakura left that train of thought quickly.

Once he'd waited long enough, he swept across the front office over to the main elevators. He didn't know where that elevator came out, but he had enough knowledge to know that it had exits and entrances on every floor. Knowing Kaiba, they were heading to the penthouse floor at the top, where Kaiba lived these days.

He pressed the button to send them to floor 13. Kaiba wasn't suspicious, so there was a 13th floor and not like other buildings, who left their 13 floor for janitorial things and other necessities, and put the rest of their offices above that. Although in this building, floor 13 was said to be haunted by the ghost of an albino woman named Kisara who had once loved Kaiba and jumped out of this very floor, so it was usually empty.

Bakura didn't even have to sneak around.

He found the elevator shaft, and he pressed the button so the elevator would stop here next. The elevator should have already dropped off Joey and Kaiba, so Bakura wasn't worried. He was worried that if he couldn't pull off Kaiba's voice, then he'd set off some alarm.

And then he had an idea. He didn't have to talk like Kaiba. He just needed to play a recording of Kaiba's voice into the speaker. It wasn't that advanced, it was an elevator after all.

Bakura pulled out his phone and he found a youtube video of one of Kaiba's speeches. He smirked before pressing his speaker to it's receiver. Once the clip of "This is Seto Kaiba." had played, the door swung open and Bakura climbed in.

He looked at the buttons. Penthouse. Hm… but he shouldn't go there, not unless he wanted to be caught. He needed an excuse… Mokuba! Mokuba lived in the penthouse too. He must also use this elevator… if Bakura was caught, and it wasn't likely since he could control whether he was seen or not, he could just say that Mokuba had wanted him and had given him the emergency password to come up into the penthouse via stairs.

Bakura walked out silently to the main hallway, which was white and reminded him of a hospital. How charming. There were only pictures of Mokuba and they were the only things that added color to the whole place.

He heard Kaiba's voice coming from the living room. He snuck through the doorway and he hid in the shadows. He looked around. The room was a light green, one that reminded Bakura of Appletinis and Margaritas. It was classy, high fashion, and Joey was sitting awkwardly on the vibrant green velvet couch.

"Are you going to do it or not?" Joey muttered underneath his breath. Kaiba was in the kitchenette and he was making something.

"What I decide to do with my time is my choice. It's my precious seconds that I can waste at my leisure. You shouldn't go home anyways." Kaiba answered, stone cold.

Joey looked down before his eyebrow melted off his face. Kaiba watched without flinching as the rest of his face dripped off until it was a blank slate. Bakura shuddered. Curses were the most horrible things he'd seen, and Joey's seemed to strip him of not only his face, but also his personality. At least it returned after a while… But unlike Ryou's, it was completely random.

Thank genetics he got the good genes. Handsome devil, and super powerful too.

Kaiba sat down elegantly on the couch next to faceless Joey. His deep blue eyes held no concern. Bakura hated that bastard more than anything… if his face melted off he'd feel his soul crushed.

"Katsuya…" Kaiba muttered, running his fingers through Joey's hair. Bakura's eyes widened. Katsuya? Joey's native Japanese name?

Bakura watched as Kaiba kissed Joey's slowly reforming nose. So that's what this is about. Instead of being a normal person he used his power to force Joey into a relationship? Or was he only doing this because Joey was unconscious and unable to see it and there was more to their relationship.

"Seto. What do you need me to do this time? I don't want to wait here for a million years and have this happen again." Joey cut into the moment.

Kaiba smiled against his nose, pulling the teen in closer. "I want you to find out where your father stored his information."

Joey froze. "My father?"

"He worked for the original Kaiba Corporation as a janitor and he's one of the known survivors of the blast. It was convient that I already knew you and that Serenity is under my control. Your father is a useless piece of shit, I can see how you ended up how you are." Kaiba stroked Joey's head.

Joey was stiff and scared, while Kaiba seemed perfectly content. "What blast…?"

Yes, Kaiba, what blast? Bakura had his notebook poised to write down anything he was told.

"You're very stupid." Kaiba let his fingers rest on Joey's stomach. "Why do you think you were cursed? Why there are powers and curses and those without them? The blast is what really happened in Kaiba Corporation that one fateful day… A large explosion of our new material, not yet released to the public, spread into the air and hit a select few with radiation. It killed almost everyone in Japan, where the explosion happened, and hit the Chinese and California cost the worst."

"My family comes from Japan!" Joey exclaimed. "My dad was a janitor during the blast?"

"Didn't I just explain this? Yes, your father was one of the few survivors. If you haven't noticed, most of the people have curses or powers are Japanese or from the pacific. Europe was mostly unaffected. So was Africa and Australia. I'm Japanese myself."

Bakura was busy scratching down all the new information he'd gathered.

"So you do have a power." Joey accused.

"Yes, I do. I have the ultimate power, the strongest in the world." Seto smirked as Joey's mouth dropped open. Bakura's mouth mirrored his. SETO KAIBA HAD A POWER? But Seto wanted to kill all power and curse holders! That means he hates himself! Or just that he wants to eliminate competition…

"The ultimate power…? Mental-" Joey started. Kaiba pressed a finger to his lips.

"No, I've already made sure everyone with that power has been eliminated. Without them, I have the ultimate power."

Everyone! Bakura's eyes widened. But he had that power? He wasn't eliminated! He had to get out of here, he could just ask Mokuba what Kaiba's power was. He didn't want to die!

"So what's your power?" Joey asked, as Bakura snuck to the elevator. He had to get out now! This was far more dangerous than he thought before.

"I can control emotions. I can make you do anything I want you to, and you won't protest. Because you won't notice yourself doing it. You'll want it more than me… but that's probably why…" Kaiba frowned. "Which is probably why I don't have any of my own."

Bakura pressed the first floor button and he got out of there as quickly as possible.

* * *

><p>Bakura watched Joey carefully at school. He seemed on edge. Bakura frowned. Had he missed something? Had Kaiba said something important?<p>

"Bakura!" Ryou's voice bit into his back.

Mariku and Ryou were standing behind him, and Bakura whipped around and glared at the two of them. Mariku was holding Ryou to his side. Ryou's chocolate eyes were worn out. Bakura hadn't been going to their home, so Ryou had to have been dealing with his curse all by himself.

Whatever, it was Ryou's fault for being that way.

"What do you two losers want with the awesome me?" Bakura sniped.

"All I want is for you to leave my friends alone." Ryou spit back. Mariku held him tighter. Bakura was a little put off, what had happened to his sweet little brother? His little brother wouldn't have done any of this.

"Well you're certainly doing just that." He retorted. Hypocritical bastard. "I don't see why I can't hang with them, you're not." They're my only connection to Malik. I need my partner. I have no choice.

"You have no right to hurt them like you hurt me!" The white haired twin slammed his foot down.

"You have no right to ditch me like you ditched them! Why don't the abandoned hang together?" Bakura punched the nearby wall.

"You're a liar and a thief!" Mariku sneered.

"THIS ISN'T YOUR CONVERSATION!" Ryou slapped his boyfriend hard on the right side of his face. Bakura took a step back. What the hell. Ryou would never do this… Ryou was a sweet kid.

"What's wrong with you…? Ryou, you'd never do this!" Bakura protested, grabbing Ryou's wrist before he could hit Mariku again.

"YOU PUSHED ME TO THIS!" Ryou screamed, struggling against Bakura's strength. "You took something of mine, Mariku was meant to be my lover and friend! You hurt something of mine, Malik was always my friend not yours and you used him! You killed something of mine, Akefia was my brother more than you!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Bakura threw Ryou wrist as far away as he could. "I was friends with Mariku and Malik before you even talked to them! I didn't use him, what the hell makes you think that? If he was here, he'd tell you exactly what went on between us! You were born last, Akefia had been my brother longer and we always had the same family and parents! We're equally related to him!"

"Malik did tell us. He told me! That he wasn't with you willingly! You used him! You made him say everything!" Mariku spoke up.

"I didn't!" Bakura protested. His argument was weak, how could he prove he didn't do something when the only other person able to verify it was Malik? And if Malik had said that he had, then he had nothing he could say to convince the two of them.

Bakura hadn't. He wouldn't. He didn't control people, it wasn't his thing. He wouldn't control them to love him, he never would.

"You made him say everything! You can! I've seen you do it to me a million times!" Ryou cried out.

With Ryou's determination, Bakura felt something inside him break. He didn't… did he? Bakura knew when he used his own power for heaven's sake. He… could he have used his powers without knowing it?

He'd never done so before, even when he killed Akefia he knew he was using his powers. He just didn't know what he was doing with them… Bakura hated this. He was lost. Confused. Ryou was fucking victimizing him and he had nothing to say. Bakura couldn't hurt Ryou. Anyone else, he could hurt. But Ryou… He'd already done that many times before. He wasn't going to do it again if he had a chance.

Feeling the power inside him trying to explode out, Bakura pushed all of his strength into transforming it into something useful. Imagining the sights, he teleported out of the school straight to the park so no one could see him explode.

* * *

><p>Bakura didn't expect that anyone would come looking for him. It was lunch time at school though, and before he knew it he was surrounded. Miho was sitting on the swing next to him, handing him a burrito she'd bought from the school lunch line. Yami and Yugi were building sand castles in the sand underneath the swings. Tristan was pouring everyone a serving of soup. Joey was grinning as he put sand in Serenity's hair. Even Tea, who hated him, was smiling and showing off her dance moves to Duke Devlin.<p>

Bakura finally got the nerve to speak. "Why are you guys here? No offense, but you annoy me on every day other than Friday. And on Friday, you just piss me off."

"We're friends, aren't we? Yami overheard what that little traitor Ryou was saying to you and we knew that we had to go find you. And we… um… tracked your cell phone?" Tea chimed.

"Nice…" Bakura smirked. "Illegal activities now, Tea? I didn't think you needed a new hobby."

She gasped and smacked him hard on the top of the head. In the name of good humor, Bakura let it pass as she said, "It wasn't me!"

Yami and Yugi snickered. "It was us."

"Seriously? I'm the one who hacked into Kaiba Corporation's employee phone numbers and found Bakura's number in there!" Joey inserted. Of course Joey could do that. Bakura raised an eyebrow still. The fact they had all gone so far for him… And Bakura didn't even consider them friends.

Maybe he could deal with them. He would never say he liked them. But maybe he could tolerate them. At best.

"Don't forget me." Bakura heard a shockingly familiar voice add into the mix. Bakura looked straight up into amethyst eyes. Malik smirked down at him. "I flew in all the way from Egypt… to deliver a few packages."

Bakura grinned before jumping up and absolutely smothering the Egyptian in a bear hug. Yeah. And Bakura hated bear hugs with all of his heart. He missed his blond. A fuck lot.

His blond had a fuck lot of explaining to do.

"I can't breathe, Bakura." Malik poked him hard in the ear.

Bakura loosened up, but didn't let go. After that many weeks, he didn't want to. Oh hell no. Not yet.

To his great annoyance, Miho and Tea were cooing over how cute they were. Joey was smiling like a hyena taking pictures with his second hand cell phone and Yami and Yugi were laughing. Tristan politely looked away. Duke wolf whistled.

They were all bastards.

"Okay, seriously guys. We need to get down to business." Malik pushed Bakura all the way off and Bakura settled down in the swing that he'd had abandoned. "I have packages for Yami, Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, Miho, and Duke. Bakura, I have one for you too but it's not of the same manner."

Everyone cheered. Malik calmed them with a hand.

"You do know that if you except these, you'll become a rare-hunter, right?"

Everyone nodded solemnly. Bakura raised an annoyed eyebrow. What was going on behind his back? Yami said he was entirely neutral! Well, apparently not anymore… and, obviously Malik worked in mysterious ways.

"Here ya go, then, everybody!" Malik started passing out golden items.

Bakura felt a necklace pressed into his palms. Malik gave him a brief smile before moving on to give someone else a 'present'. He turned the smooth gold over and over in his palms. Huh… Why did Malik give this to him and tell him it was for something else? Everyone else got some strange gold item, so why was his special?

He knew he was just more awesome in general, but that wasn't always the reason.

"Okay, now you're probably wondering, what the fuck is this?" Malik began explaining the items immediately. "Tristan, your items are linen gloves with gold flakes imbedded. They make your power bursts last longer. Anzu, you have the horus hourglass. It'll help with your time working. Joey, you have something special called the . It looks like makeup, and yeah, it basically is, but once your faces melts off, you can get someone replace it with any new one that you can think of and regain consciousness again and sneak around. It washes off and you get your old face back. Yami, you have the sennen puzzle, the real pyramid of the one you wear around your neck. Yugi, you have a set of three unbeatable game cards called the Egyptian God Cards. Everyone clear?"

"What's mine?" Bakura spoke up, holding up the ring.

"The millennium ring. You have something to protect. There are two souls inside. One of someone you care deeply for, and another of a monster corrupting them slowly…" Malik held the ring, his warm hands cupping gently over Bakura's.

Bakura looked down at the ring and back up to Malik. "Okay, so why did I get the shitty item?"

"You'll want it, trust me." Malik grinned. "And that's not all it does, either. It sends out laser beams from each one of the needles, and also it can detect any type of shadow magic, the power Kaiba Corp tapped into to create the powers."

Anzu jumped up. "Shadow magic? I've never heard of it! Tell me more."

Malik took a regal seat next to Bakura, kicking Miho out of her place. Beh, Bakura preferred him anyway. "Shadow magic goes by many names. Back in ancient Egypt, the pharaohs tapped into this power source to create fantastical items like these and also to have power plays between candidates. These were called Shadow Games. Or a shadow duel, depending on what was happening between them. Kaiba Co. found a source of Shadow magic in Japan, and began sucking out that power to use for a ultra weapon. Instead, it backfired. The weapon exploded, sending the power and the radiation all across the world."

"And a few years later, those with powers or curses were born from the parents who'd been hit with the shadow power or the shadow radiation." Bakura finished. "Those hit with the power ended up with a power, those hit with the radiation ended up with a curse. Those hit with both had some weird ass children."

Joey nodded mutely. "So that's why we have powers and curses."

"The shadow magic is powerful, and to erase those with the powers and curses, Kaiba will definitely try and tap into it again. That's why I collected the items most imbedded with Shadow Magic and gave them to you, so that you'll have some protection over the raw power." Malik smirked, swinging back and forth a bit. Bakura grappled for his hand, and missed. He tried again and grabbed it, feeling his spirit uplifted once again.

He was ready to kick some ass and take some names.

* * *

><p>Kaiba stared into the determined chocolate eyes of the albino. He sneered. One of the pathetic cursed ones who didn't deserve to live, his great project. They were taking up space, abominations created by his stepfather's mistakes.<p>

"You have no business being here." Kaiba said softly and slowly, making sure he was heard.

"You have no business telling me why I can't be here. We want to talk to you, Seto Kaiba. Because we want to join you. We want the same things here. People with curses and powers are dragging down the general populace, and my brother has the ultimate power. I have the ultimate curse. We both killed our brother from our mere existence." Ryou stated solemnly but still holding his head proud. Mariku grinned next to him, massaging his arm.

Well that was all going to plan, wait… Kaiba froze in shock. Another one with the ultimate power? He needed to rid the world of those now. Ryou's brother was that… that Bakura one. How had he hidden so well? Used his powers in secret?

"My brother is being stupid, I want to get him back over to our side. We both were treated as demons for having powers, not even worth being inside our family. But he sympathizes with other power holders, instead of wanted to help you find a way to eliminate powers and curses forever, preventing further sadness." Mariku added.

Kaiba nodded, deciding that the plan would still go on. "You want to help your brothers."

"We want to save the world." Ryou agreed. "My brother is a demon, he's a killer, a monster! He needs to die, be gone from the world. Then he will hurt no more."

"We want to save the world." Mariku echoed. "My brother is the leader of the rebellion. He needs to see the truth of the world."

Kaiba watched his two newest servants bow to him as expected, genuine smiles adorning their faces. "I accept. We will start our plans, then."

* * *

><p><strong>Weird chappie is weird. Next chapter will take a while, since I'm still writing it actually. Forgive! I know already that my updates are sporadic and random at best. Oh well. It'll always be this way, I'm just not fit to keep a professional schedule without someone else there to make sure it's enforced. Tell me what you think, I always appreciate that! Also, I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Obviously.<strong>

**Thanks a trillion to those who have already faved and reviewed, I adore you all and I want to smother you with much love and many updates.**


	5. Chapter 5

Bakura scowled into the night. It was weird to see his friends with shadowed features, the dark purple cloaks surrounding their various forms. Joey was stroking his, trying to keep it off the pavement. It was the nicest piece of clothing he'd ever owned. Yami and Yugi had fun making Tea play guessing games on who was who, with Yami only a few inches taller and Yugi standing on his tiptoes to even it out. Tea's cloak showed her obvious chest, but she refused to bind it down to hide her gender.

Malik wore his like a king, pacing around until everyone was wearing theirs correctly. They had an important mission tonight, as well as their upcoming initiation quest, and also training to power up themselves. One mistake and lives could be lost.

Tristan didn't sense the serious nature as he tried out punching with his new gloves. Miho giggled, twirling around to make her new lucky charm bracelet clink and chime. Malik had handed it to her to enhance her chances of being lucky. Although he didn't say much about how well it'd work.

Bakura stood in the back and watched them all. This was incredibly stupid and dangerous, using Joey to break into the Kaiba Co. building to talk to Mokuba about their newest plans, but they had to try and get to the teen before they made a stupid move.

So right into the enemy's territory they marched.

"Everyone ready?" Malik asked, his voice calmer than he looked himself.

"Sure!" Tea punched the air excitedly. "I know exactly what to do!"

Everyone had a part in this, mainly because Malik wanted to test their powers out in the field as well as get them inside to Mokuba. Bakura was the lean back guy, in case anything went wrong. Plus, Bakura just loved the threat of danger. It wasn't like he wanted an excuse to be near Malik. Mariku and Ryou may not let Malik near him at school, and wouldn't tell either of them why, but he wasn't that desperate.

In fact, Ryou and Mariku's behavior was the weird part. Bakura certainly had an idea on that, but he was keeping his mouth shut. The plan right now was more important.

It all started with Joey. He knew the inside layout of the building better than even Bakura, having spent a lot of time there with Kaiba. Joey certainly didn't agree with Kaiba or what he was doing, but anyone could see the amount of love Joey had for the actual man behind all of it. Joey's main job was to unlock the elevators as well as the front door and lead them through the building.

Tea would rewind time back on all of the cameras, so that they would sneak by unnoticed. Tristan would take out all the guards without being seen, sneaking out from the shadows to strike with his super strength. Yugi would solve all the codes on the alarm systems so that Seto wouldn't be alerted of anyone entering or exiting the building. Yami and Miho were there for either emotional support, or just usefulness in general. Being lucky never hurt anyone. And Yami could go in psycho if necessary as long as the guards didn't have their guns.

Malik of course, stood back and watched all this unfold, giving orders and directions to the newbies. Little could go wrong, but Bakura still pulled the Egyptian aside before the started their mission.

"Hey." Bakura gathered the tan boy to him, pressing them together. They fit nicely. "You've been quiet since you came back. And why the hell did you leave without telling me?"

Malik looked around for potential eavesdroppers. Everyone else seemed to be minding their own business. He looked back into Bakura's eyes. Malik's lavender orbs were intense and sharp, revealing some of how he was feeling behind his façade.

"Well, sorry." He shrugged his velvet cover shoulders. "Mariku told me my flight had been cancelled and I had to leave right then and there if I wanted to catch the one I did. I ran off, and once I'd left I realized one of two things. Mariku had stolen my cell phone, and my flight really hadn't been cancelled, Mariku had lied to me all along."

"And what else?" Bakura tugged on the platinum blonde strands.

"Mariku and Ryou are planning something. Against the rebellion and therefore us. I say we bring them down, now." Malik kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth. "Now let's go before it's Mokuba's bedtime."

* * *

><p>Their sneaking in had been successful. Mokuba looked around. They were a mottled group, but one brunette caught Mokuba's eye right away. "Joey? But I thought you were Seto's little toy!"<p>

Joey smirked. "I'm full of surprises. Kaiba may think I'm a loyal mutt, but like hell am I going to let him play around with my sister and me like that!"

Mokuba grinned. "I'm sorry for thinking so lowly of you!"

And a beautiful friendship was formed. Bakura coughed to hide his disgust. "Let's move on." He forced the two to move onwards with the situation. Malik cleared his throat.

"We do have serious business to attend to here. Bakura and the rest of these dorks are full members of the Rare Hunters now. But I've decided we need a pass code for all old and new members. If Mariku is planning against us, we will need to know who's trustworthy and who's not. He knows all of our old workings, so a new one is in order to tell spies from trustworthy members."

Mokuba nodded. "A pass code? Like, what's your name? Then you'd reply with something like Rachel? Ra- Rare, H- hunter?"

"Yeah. That's the idea." Joey confirmed. Mokuba grinned.

Yami tapped his foot. "It needs to be a transgender name though, so it isn't suspicious. I certainly do not look like a Rachel. What about Paige, or Taylor instead? It's trickier, and far less common."

"No." Malik interjected, trying not to roll his eyes at their ideas. "It needs to be common. Like… say, Steve. And our girl members can go by Stevie, I suppose but I think Steve is transgender enough as is."

"Okay, so our pass code goes exactly like this then, so write it down then memorize it and burn the papers. 'Hello, is there something you need?' with the member being approached. Then the response will be 'Hello my name is Steve.'." Bakura said as he wrote this down on a piece of paper.

"Then that's a trustworthy member?" Yugi double-checked just to make sure he understood. Bakura nodded to confirm it.

"Next on our agenda." Malik butted in. "These idiots are new members so they are already clean. We need to bring all the trustworthy members together all at once and give them all the pass code so everyone knows who's trustworthy and who is a traitor and a spy. I'll start handing out the pass code to the members we can trust, then each of you can hand out the pass code to one trusted member."

Bakura smirked. This way, Malik could tell exactly which members were in the loop and which members who weren't. And if someone had overheard the pass code and lied to them because there was an exact number allowed. And no one was stupid enough to go against Malik and Bakura. They were rather… a deadly combination.

"Remember we have to come to them. We have to be extremely careful who overhears us say this as well. Joey, they'll go for you if you show a single sign of weakness." Yami pointed out. "You're our double agent. Any suspicious movement and Serenity might need a little bit of hospital help."

Joey gulped. "Ya guys, I know and I'm ready as ever. If I let all of this weigh me down I'm toast, so I'll keep my head up sure!"

He was bluffing but Bakura liked the spirit he had to keep on going. Joey was in the roughest position of all. He had to go and do both missions for the Rare Hunters and Kaiba Corp while keeping under Kaiba's very strict and trained radar.

Speaking of the Kaiba radar, Joey pulled his vibrating phone in his pocket out into the open and pressed talk. Thank Kaiba for the soundproof walls.

"Joey Wheeler- ya, I'm not busy. What's up, Kaiba?" Joey gave them all a look to make sure they knew who exactly he was talking to.

Everyone was so quiet that only the slight sound of breathing escaped their lips.

"Of course I can come over. I'm in the neighborhood right now. Mokie wanted to play Super Smash Brothers Brawl with me earlier while you were gone-" Joey was apparently cut off by Kaiba. He waited a few seconds, his free hand drawing the conversation in picture form onto the board and flashing it to the group occasionally.

It picture said 'Mission'.

"Oh okay, business." Joey finally said, his face tinged pink. "No worries, I can do that. He hasn't been sober since Thursday, I don't want to-"

A picture with a drawing of a man, and the word 'Father'. Bakura raised an eyebrow. Where was this conversation going?

"Oh yah. No prob, I'll let him know as soon as he's not barfing up beer in the kitchen sink. And I'll help you out since he already tried to slug me this afternoon. No use in going home."

A picture of a nuclear power plant was shown to all of them.

Another pause. "And yeah, I promise I'll talk to him! I'll skip school. He's usually sober around lunch time when he starts to eat… 'Kay, bye. Love you."

Joey hung up. He looked up with a scared expression on his face. "He wants me here. I can't already be here, that's way too fucking suspicious. I need to get out and walk up to the building in about the next ten minutes or so to keep off radar. I'm fucking screwed, aren't I?"

Mokuba's eyes widened. "Oh, fuck! Bakura, teleport everyone out of here right now, he'll probably come in and check on me if he's expecting Joey over soon!"

Bakura nodded. This might actually be difficult. "Give me a good place to go. Everybody, line up and make sure you're touching me. I need contact to teleport all of you. Also, in repayment for all of this shit you're making me do, I expect a decent lunch for the rest of the week."

Yugi spoke up. "The Kami Game Shop. My grandpa won't mind a bunch of people showing up all at once."

Bakura nodded and focused. Okay, Malik was touching his left shoulder. Linked. Tea had a hold on his left hand. Linked. Yugi was grabbing on his right arm. Linked. Yami was holding his left wrist. Linked. Miho was touching his right forearm. Linked. Tristan had his pack pressed to his right elbow. Linked. Joey had his hand in his right hand. Linked. Everybody clear.

He built up energy and focused on the glowing neon sign of the Kami Game Shop. That sight, smell, sound, and then he released the energy and felt himself catapulted into the other space.

The cool night air and sound of cars surrounded them. Bakura grinned. "Everyone intact?"

Tea smiled. "I'm missing a few buttons and Yugi only has one sneaker, but other than that we're all good to go."

Bakura could barely believe it. He'd managed to teleport eight people halfway across the city. And he still had power left! Awesome. "Okay Joey, let's get you in position, where we were hiding before the stakeout. And collect Yugi's sneaker from Mokuba's bedroom, okay? Tea's buttons will just be sacrifices for the greater good."

Joey nodded, still holding Bakura's hand with a death grip. Bakura forgot how terrifying teleportation could be the first time. "It'll be a smoother ride this time." Bakura said, before realizing he was shit at comforting because he really just didn't care and that it'd go better if he ignored the idiot.

Joey on his right hand. Linked. Power growing. The sight. The smell. The taste of the night air and the gravel beneath their feet. Ready to go. Power release.

Bakura opened his eyes to the spot he had stood little more than half an hour ago. "Ready to go have fun with Kaiba?" He asked his passenger.

Joey laughed. "Fun isn't the correct word. I think you're looking for wild-and-passionate sex." He wasn't missing any clothing so Bakura was proud of himself. He felt the pressure of the teleporting, though, so instead of teleporting back to the game shop, he left Malik a text saying he was taking a taxi back and not to worry.

He slumped down on a bench and he watched Joey walk away. The yellow car never picked up it's passenger. Bakura was asleep long before it arrived.

* * *

><p>Bakura woke up to a warm hand stroking through his hair. He blinked. His head was so foggy. Fuck. This could be really bad… but he was too tired to figure out much, let alone move. Opening and focusing with his eyes seemed impossible.<p>

Everything was coated with an orange haze and he didn't register much else other than it and the sensation of a warm hand in his white locks.

"I see you're awake." The hand replied. It continued stroking.

"Where the bloody hell am I?" He tried to snap, but it came out groggy and disoriented… much like himself right now, actually. Fuck it, Bakura was going to wake up if he said so! He forced his droopy eyes open and stared up.

"In a dream." The hand replied. The orange fog cleared some and he could see that the hand wasn't really talking, the Egyptian it was connected to was the speaker. "Can't you tell? This isn't Earth. You woke up in the dream world."

Bakura scooted so his head was more comfortably in the Egyptian's lap. If he really was in a dream world, then this person should just deal with the fact that he was going to use her for his own selfish purposes.

He observed the world around him. He was expecting a blue sky and a grey sidewalk and etc. He saw an orange and pink faded sky with sparkling clouds as well as a world that looked as if it was water colored or maybe with pastels. Everything seemed light and airy and calm. Clean and crisp, but the air wasn't cold or warm.

"I'm not in Kansas anymore, Toto. I can tell by the bloody orange sky and the fact that everything in here is fucking pastel but why am I here? How in hell'd I get here?" Bakura replied, his tone taking on the most dangerous snarl that he could manage while still drifting off back to sleep.

The Egyptian smiled. Bakura was starting to discern whether it was male or female. All he knew was that it was a comforting presence. "It's my doing."

"Why in a gazillion years would you bring me here?" He snapped at the woman. It was definitely a woman, he could see her long black hair and prominent breasts now. She reminded him of a motherly figure, not that he remembered much about his. His mother had killed herself as well as their little sister right after he killed Akefia out of grief.

"To show you the future. My power was bestowed by the ancients through prayer and love. You know my brother well." The woman said softly, interrupting his thoughts.

"Your brother? You mean Malik? Or Mariku? But they are twins, aren't they?" Bakura didn't know what to make of this woman. Other than that he didn't really like her, or how calm he was. Normally, he'd be freaking out and screaming at the top of his lungs for her to die.

"Malik is my dearest little brother. Mariku is a traitor and we do not accept him any longer. He killed my father and abused my husband. He couldn't stop laughing afterwards. I can't believe he almost killed my husband… they were like brothers long before he and I were married… It was so strange, since he didn't remember any of it afterward and he only acted strangely while priest Seth was here… but enough of that. We have business to attend to, not squabbles to confess."

Bakura sat upright and stared straight at her, taking in her full appearance one and for all. She had long straight black hair, something he hadn't expected from a sister of Malik for certain. Her eyes were a brilliant sapphire and she wore traditional Egyptian robes as well as a golden necklace.

"First, what's your name? I can't keep calling you woman. Well, I can, but I just don't want to," Bakura demanded, waiting a few seconds for her response.

She finally let a smile grace her lips and replied, "Ishizu, or Isis. Whichever you prefer. I like Ishizu."

"Whatever, Ishizu. And one more thing before we get started…" The words came tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. "I want your brother, Malik. I don't care if you don't approve or not, I'm taking him."

She looked shocked. "You want to be with Malik? Very well, I suppose you can always try. That boy never listened to me no matter what I told him. He always thought that Odion killed his father and he ran off with his traitor brother who had spun him those lies…"

"I'll treat him well." Bakura promised. "I treat those who are mine well, anyway."

"Just be honest with him." Ishizu grasped his hand lovingly. Bakura rolled his eyes, wanting to pull it away but he let her grasp it anyway. "I miss him so much. I miss my baby brother. I miss my family together. I hate how everything got torn apart. Please, please, please… tell him I love him."

Bakura grinned. "I'll make sure he hears it, but then you'll owe me."

"You're funny… but now. We only have so much time." Ishizu brought them back to the more pressing matters at hand. "I brought you here because of a turn of events. I must begin aiding Kaiba for the sake of Malik's and my husband's protection. With me on their side, I can predict your every move. Please get Malik somewhere safe immediately and I will communicate to you when to act yourself. I do not wish to aid Kaiba, but there will be a battle in the upcoming days. You will loose if you fight, but you will anyway. This leads to Malik's capture and torture."

"A battle? Between Kaiba Corp. and the Rare Hunters?" Bakura jumped up, alert for the first time since waking up in the dream. "Like hell I'm not going to fight! If Malik's going to get captured, I'll kill those bastards before they have a chance to touch him!"

"You won't, because Kaiba is going to make you hate Malik… just like he made your brother turn on you. Or did you think that Ryou had changed so much on his own? Kaiba has been planning this in the background. In fact, I think he's been planning this, setting this up for a long time. There are things we may never know that he arranged."

"Bitch, he controls emotions!" Bakura punched the bench. "I won't fight if I have no loyalty towards them!"

Ishizu frowned at his words but just continued on. "We don't have much time left. Show Malik everything before it's too late, give him the courage to say the words to save you from Kaiba. If you enlist the help from your friends, you'll save Kaiba from himself for only a second, but sacrifice another. Pick your future carefully."

Bakura growled. If he asked for help from Malik or anyone else, he'd sacrifice someone. And as cruel as Bakura was, he had actually began to tolerate all of the friendship-troupe, and what if that someone was Malik? Could he risk that? He wasn't that cold.

"I'll remember everything you said, I'm not stupid." Bakura gave her one last serious look before standing up from the bench and opening his eyes. His real eyes.

* * *

><p>Malik couldn't hold himself back when he saw Bakura trudge into Kami Game Shop. He'd stayed awake all night waiting for him to come back after all.<p>

"Hey!" Bakura protested, as Malik flung himself onto the albino at full speed, almost knocking them both over.

"You bastard! You absolute dick!" Malik indignantly grunted into Bakura's soft white hair. They stood like that for a moment, sharing warmth.

"I just slept on a bench. I don't recommend it." Bakura deadpanned. He might not have been joking, but Malik thought so because of the tone of voice.

"I think I'll stick to beds, thank you." Malik answered, letting the albino out of his death grip, but still hanging onto his wrist.

"I have a lot to tell you, though. It's not good stuff." Bakura broke the temporary silence. He really didn't mind. He'd planned to do much plotting with the Egyptian before the day was over, not having chick flick moments.

Malik nodded cautiously, letting Bakura go. "Let's get settled down somewhere, then."

They sank into the couch together, Malik cuddling into a pillow with Bakura's feet in his lap. Silence reigned again, before Bakura finally spoke up once again.

"I was visited by your sister in a dream." He said simply. Malik stiffened. Ishizu had betrayed him, everyone in his family had betrayed him now. Mariku was off working with Kaiba. As much as he pretended it never bothered him, sometimes it sunk in painfully deep and all he wanted was to forget the pain of knowing his entire family was traitorous.

"Bakura, she betrayed me… Just like everyone else…" Malik admitted.

Bakura snorted. "She seemed just to feel remorse for the events of your past. I don't know which version is true. I'm not going to get involved in that shit. All I know is what she told me. That she said that she and her husband loved you more than anything and missed you. I know all of that is true." Bakura felt gross for speaking such loving and gushy words, but he knew that Malik needed to hear it. Because Ishizu hadn't lied to him.

"Why did she go to you to talk?" Malik asked, obviously still troubled by the new knowledge.

"To warn me of the future. Kaiba is definitely going to try to control me, and that Kaiba is controlling Ryou and Mariku as well. As easily as they turned on you and me, I could turn on the Rare Hunters. She said you'd be in mortal danger, that they would capture you. And that no one will be able to save you."

Malik pursed his lips, trembling a little at the new information. "One thing Ishizu never does is tell a lie about a prediction. She will never tell someone a false future. She can omit telling the future, but she cannot lie about it. So when I asked her the first time, and she said that everything as we knew it was going to change and that I'd be betrayed, I thought she was lying. That the future couldn't be so bleak. But she was right."

"She told me that there was going to be a battle. And that during this battle, one would be sacrificed if we could gain Kaiba's humanity back long enough to win and stop whatever he was going to do from happening. That I had to chose my future carefully." Bakura told him, poking the Egyptian in the stomach with his foot.

"I don't think sacrificing someone is the way I want to win this battle. You lost Ryou, I lost Mariku, who else would we sacrifice? Each other? One of the friendship-troupe?" Malik gritted his teeth angrily. "No, never the friendship troupe. As much as I hate them sometimes, they are good at heart. They don't deserve it, after turning their backs on the law just to help me and I wasn't even one of them. I was just someone that they knew, who had a dream. They gave up theirs to make mine succeed."

"I think what she means by that, is you. You, Malik. I won't let you do that. You turn yourself in, let yourself be captured and tortured, while we manage to get to Kaiba. I don't see how else they'd get to you." Bakura frowned. He didn't like thinking about loosing Malik, not when he'd just gained him.

"Maybe… You would leave me behind if I was captured, wouldn't you?"

The question was like a double bladed sword. There was no correct answer. Malik wanted him to say of course he would never betray him and leave him behind, but Bakura knew that answer would also infuriate Malik. The sensible part of Malik wanted him to say he'd leave him behind. Because that answer meant Malik's dream was coming true, that the mission was being completed.

"If you told me to." Bakura admitted, feeling nothing at all as he said the words. It was better to be truthful. If Malik got captured, he wouldn't let Malik's decision go to waste. That was like letting someone die for you, then spitting on their grave afterwards. Bakura didn't do that to people who didn't deserve it.

Malik's face fell only the slightest bit.

"… so never let yourself get captured. It would kill me to leave you behind, even though I would have to do it." Bakura added, wiggling his toes.

"That tickles!"

* * *

><p>Ryou picked up his gun, testing it's weight in his hands. Perfect. It was perfect, balanced, made just for him. It was as if Kaiba had known all along that he'd need a gun, a gun was the only thing that could take down Bakura while he was still a freak like he was. Still too powerful. Ryou played with the gun, thinking of their newest mission.<p>

He'd shoot to kill. A soft smile spread on his face, his cheeks rosy from excitement. "I won't miss." He whispered.

Mariku was strapping bottles of water to his waist. He glanced up at the albino, before grinning and reassuring, "Of course not, snowball."

Their mission was going to be jump-kicked into action after tomorrow. Ryou had the most important job; sneak close enough to shoot. It was all resting on him. Mariku wanted to snatch up his brother, save him and bring him back to the light. Ryou was okay with that, as long as he got to pull the trigger on his own. The day after tomorrow could not come soon enough.

"You think Malik will convert over to our side without a fight?" Ryou asked again, worrying. It was in his nature after all, he didn't want any unnecessary pain.

"Of course he will." Mariku assured him. "Kaiba will do a little convincing if necessary, but otherwise… he'll see that we were right and that we're doing the right thing here. We're helping everyone, and he always has wanted to help."

"But now he's just hurting everyone with my brother… how is that wanting to help?" Ryou protested.

Mariku's eyes narrowed. "Don't talk about them like they're together. We all know that Malik is trapped by Bakura and in a forced relationship with him. Bakura is controlling Malik, and Malik can't fight it. Once we break that control, he'll see that it's wrong to lead the Rare Hunters. He's just trying to protect the thing that's hurting everyone."

Ryou nodded. He fidgeted a little with his hands. "Um… Mariku?"

"Yes, Snowball?" Mariku said, coming closer. "You need something?"

"Kiss me." Ryou whispered, leaning in closer. Mariku grinned, his large arms coming around Ryou and matching smirks adorned their faces. The albino nipped at the other boy's nose, before moving tiny pecks down his cheeks to his lips.

Mariku pushed against him, plunging into his mouth and exploring it with vivacity. Ryou kissed back with force, feeling the pleasure surge throughout his body. They separated for air, gasping, and the albino swore his knees were jelly.

"Had enough yet, Ryou?" Mariku purred, pulling Ryou closer. Ryou's heart was pounding, and he wanted nothing more than to start yet another mind blowing kiss, because Mariku would let him take control and push and he didn't have to worry too much about being seen as not soft, or not cute. Oh no, he could fight back and never worry about having to hurt his partner, and he loved it.

There was no fear, no shyness, and the albino craved it.

"Of course I haven't. But we shouldn't be idle, we have a mission that cannot go wrong." Ryou laughed.

Mariku released him with a sigh and a disapproving snort. "Weakling."

The door swung upon as the leader of the entire group; of all of the humans and power or curse holders together ready to strike down the last resistance; strode inside. Seto Kaiba smirked at his arranged troops, the agent at his side tucked underneath his cloak and unconscious.

There was a pool of blood and skin on the floor that seemed to follow the leader as he sauntered throughout the hall. Kaiba took center stage, dropping his cargo at his feet. A faceless person lay there, not one that Ryou recognized. Well, he might have, but he really didn't like to look at the carnage so he kept his eyes on his fearless leader's face instead.

"We had a rat among us, a Judas of sorts. No matter what he says or does when he wakes back up, do not question him or his motives. Let him do as he wishes. After all, no one may harm him under my direct orders." Kaiba addressed them all.

Ryou blinked. Not harm the Judas? But he was a traitor! He deserved punishments, didn't he? Ryou took an defensive stance, wondering what had come over their leader. Was it one of Bakura's mind tricks?

"You may be questioning me right now on my plans and why I do not punish our traitor. I will tell you simply, that he is of no danger to us or our corporation. He has gathered the necessary data, and he has provided me with a hostage; himself. There is no need for an attack now, they will come to us to try and retrieve him."

"Why doesn't he have a face?" Ryou called out, wondering in morbid curiosity.

Kaiba smiled, an actual smile. "Oh, he does. He's just not home right now. In fact, he's stored away where no one will be able to harm him again. And then maybe…"

Kaiba picked up the person again, their facelessness actually rather scary in Ryou's opinion. The leader swept out of the room, his cloak trailing behind him with the words, "If they beat us, Ryou, Mariku, and then maybe I'll return it."

* * *

><p>"Joey!"<p>

Bakura scratched the back of his head in irritation. Where the hell could've that dumb Brooklyn blond gotten off to? He'd been stuck with the friendship gang for hours while they searched to no avail. They weren't having any luck on finding him, let alone getting anywhere with anything else. They were well and stuck in a rut.

There was no way of contacting him other than his cell and of course Joey wasn't picking up. Bakura had rights to be annoyed. He wanted to find a random woman and punch her in the face just to get all of his anger out. And that wasn't the worst part.

He'd seen Ryou today.

"Joey!" Yugi called, poking his multi-colored head around everywhere. Yami shook his head, his hand coming to rest upon the smaller clone's shoulder.

"He's not here." Yami said, defeated.

Bakura let out a yawn, bored and restless. So what if Joey decided to go missing for a day, it wasn't like Kaiba would hurt him with their creepy relationship thing going on there. Joey was safe, what was the rush? Unless Joey was hurt, and therefore in the hospital, and that's where they should be headed instead of old warehouses on the outside of town.

The albino scowled. Talk about inconvenient. The day he's sure the enemy forces are moving, and Joey, their double agent, disappears. If that wasn't just peachy for Kaiba's troops, then nothing would tickle their fancy.

"Kaiba's men are moving. There's something big about to go down, and I say we definitely should be there for it. So let's go already." Bakura did not whine that last bit, because Bakura did not whine. It was a complaint though, and he was going to complain until something was done about it.

"Of course they're moving! They have Joey somewhere, and we need to go save him." Yugi shouted, his eyes dark and cold as he whipped around to glare at Bakura. The albino shrugged.

"Then why are we here? Let's go get Joey back. He's probably in Kaiba's building somewhere with him." Bakura pointed out. The glares were worth it. Anything to get him back closer to Malik, anything to let him keep his companion safe because he'd promised himself that he wouldn't let them get Malik and everyone else be damned.

He wouldn't let them get Malik because he knew that if they did, then it was too late. He wasn't going to rescue him, because that's what Malik wanted. He wanted to save people, and if letting himself be kidnapped- killed!

Bakura started to walk away, quickening his paces. Who gave a shit if he was supposed to be here looking for Joey. He wasn't loosing his partner, and everything else can go to hell for all he cared.

"Bakura- He's just going to do whatever he wants anyway, isn't he?" Yami called wistfully, pulling Yugi with him as they trailed after him.

"Actually, walking is such a waste. Let's teleport." Bakura impatiently grabbed both of their wrist, connected and connected, and sent the trio there in one second flat.

Yugi and Yami looked like they were going to be sick.

"Warn us next time, 'Kura." Yugi drabbled, cross-eyed and wobbly.

Bakura shrugged. He had warned them, they just didn't prepare quick enough. One needed to be ready for any type of situation, even unlikely and deadly as they were. He sure was. Teleporting wasn't even that bad, or at least Bakura thought so. Just a bit draining, nothing that his power reservoirs couldn't handle.

They were all now standing right outside of the Kaiba building, and Bakura stared up at that.

"We're lucky no one saw that." The albino stated, staring up at the window he knew was Kaiba's private office. "We would be so dead right now."

The two shared a look.

Bakura knew what they were thinking already, that he was reckless and stupid for trying something like that. That he was bullheaded and impossible to deal with. Okay, so he was reckless, bullheaded, and impossible to deal with, but Bakura was not stupid. Unless it came to school work, and he'd admit he was a bit shabby when he wasn't reading some classmate's head to find out the answers for the tests and homework.

No, he never abused his powers. What made one think that?

"Joey would be up on one of the tops floor, or he's in the basement somewhere. Some laboratory." Yugi pointed out, and Yami ruffled his hair. "It's like hide and go seek. I never loose a game."

Bakura did not doubt that, as Yugi's eyes started to glow, and life points appeared next to him. His set up was different, for the different type of game, but it was still recognizable from their classes if not more powerful.

When had Yugi improved so much? Before he could barely become the king of games for only 30 seconds, but it had been at least a minute and Yugi's eyes were still darting left and right as he analyzed and plotted. The albino boy was actually impressed by it.

"There. Laboratories, second floor down, is where we'll find Joey. But the rest of him is with Kaiba." Yugi announced, right as his eyes faded away. "Yami and I go get Joey, and Bakura goes and gets his body from Kaiba."

"Deal." Bakura said, knowing if he could get into the building, he could deal with this and get back to keeping Malik outside of it. Malik should be nearby, looking for Joey still. If this didn't take long, then they could be done with all of this before too long.

"Bakura, put on your uniform and sneak in that way. Go to the 13 floor, and find the only clean cubicle, that's where Kaiba could hide Joey's body without detection from lower ranking security and the police. No one goes on to that floor." Yugi instructed, his plans and formulas still in his head as he plotted out how they'd save their wayward friend.

Bakura nodded. "I take the front roads, hoping to get there sooner. You two sneak into the laboratories, how exactly?"

"We use pepper spray, one knife, a cell-phone, a fax machine, and a hell of a lot of creativity." was Yugi's answer, his face grim but somewhat excited by the prospect of pulling this off. Being the leader seemed to come more naturally to him than Bakura'd have expected.

"I'm going to go do my job. You two do yours, don't hesitate to ring if you get in trouble." Bakura said, his tone dry. They better not call him, he didn't want to clean up their messes, but he had enough trust in Yami and Yugi that they'd do their portion and he'd do his and they'd get Joey all pieced back together in the end. He wouldn't have to go saving anyone, he hated doing that.

And yet here he was, fighting to save people. Really, it was all very selfish for him. He wanted to save Joey so that he could keep Malik away from Kaiba, and for that reason only. He wanted to fight alongside Malik, and if that meant fighting on the side of good, well who cares? He's still kicking ass, taking names, and generally acting no different than how he'd act if he wasn't.

Nothing could make Bakura give up stealing out of young flirtatious women's purses, and he felt like if that part of him stayed the same, he'd never really change too much.

* * *

><p>The search for Joey was ending the same way it started, hopelessly. Malik's shoulders fell. He liked the friendship troupe, he really did. He might not want to spend hours upon hours in their presences, but he was good with them. He didn't want any of them to die for him.<p>

Joey felt like a giant failure on his part for not doing something about Kaiba sooner, for not winning this damn thing yet. Malik pulled out his radio, intending to give everyone the signal to regroup and make something of an invasion plan, when he noticed something.

Something was off. There was someone there.

Malik's body loosened. Oh, time to fight then. He grinned ferally, glad to finally get out the horrible desire of hurting people and causing pain. He could take it all out on his follower, and he'd be completely justified.

The shuffling made him notice that the approacher was watching from the shadows, and the air seemed so much more moist… Malik pieced together the puzzle, both of his arms alighting into a blue fire.

"Come out, Mariku. Only you have the power to control humidity like this!" Malik taunted, his arms evaporating the air around him so that he looked like a cloud of brimstone and sunlight.

"Wonderful deduction, little brother." Mariku showed himself, jumping down from the second story and using a water pool to soften his landing. Show off. Waving his water everywhere. He had no right, Malik thought indignantly, since he could lit his pants on fire and none would be the wiser.

What if Mariku really did best him here? What if Bakura wouldn't save him?

Malik didn't want that to happen. He was no damsel in distress. He'd kick Mariku's ass and there would be no more coddling of the blond Egyptian. He wasn't a doll, he wasn't a girl, and he would hold his own in any fight. He was no prize.

Mariku stalked closer, threateningly. Malik stood his ground, his arms stinging from the heat but he ignored it. It was no use, he had to fight and this was the best way.

His brother started the fight, water lashing out in the form of a whip, aimed for Malik's throat to drag him to the ground and keep him down. Jumping to the side, Malik landed softly on his feet and lunged forward to get a good flaming punch at his brother. One hit, and Malik could take his brother down.

Mariku was no harmless kitten. The water grabbed onto his ankle and whipped him back, though it's grip didn't stay as Malik's leg lit up in fire. Scrambling back to his feet, Malik knew that a direct attack would never work with their odds as they were.

With his fire, he did not need to land a billion hits like Mariku. He just needed one, and Mariku would be on the ground with third degree burns in uncomfortable places. If he ended this fight quick, the better for him. He'd waste less energy and take less blows.

The only complication, land a hit in the first place.

Malik was more nimble, and he showed this off as he dodged all of the whips attacks. The way it must've looked to anyone else was that the two Egyptians were doing some sort of dance, but it was much more deadly than that.

If Malik slipped, he could die. If Mariku let his ground down, then he may be in the hospital for several weeks. But the way things were going, it was such a stale mate that Malik turned to another one of his best tactics.

"Mariku, remember who I am! I'm your little brother, I'm Malik! This isn't you, you'd never try to kill me!" Malik danced close enough to singe his brothers hair before dancing back out of reach, his words meaningless.

"I'm helping, you're hurting! You've gotta be stopped! And who said anything about killing you? I don't want to do that." Mariku taunted, his whip hissing through the hair as he conducted it.

"Stop me, kidnap me to keep Bakura from fighting? That's too bad, it'll never work. Bakura doesn't feel anything for me, but we stuck with each other! Why do we have to fight?" Malik tried, his silver tongue out in full force.

Mariku seemed puzzled by these words, but the attacks kept coming. Malik dodged a particularly close blow before throwing a fireball back. Words were his only real chance at saving his skin, if he could break Mariku from doing this.

"You didn't, not enough in the end! You never did enough in the end! You kept hurting, kept hurting, kept hurting me when you turned away and now Ryou's all I have!" Mariku snapped, his eyes hurt. Malik withheld his grin, he was winning through.

That was the real Mariku there, the hurt one who didn't want to admit he felt betrayed. His emotions might be controlled, but it was his real personality there. Mariku's attacks were getting sloppier, as if he wasn't sure he wanted to keep hurting his brother.

A breakthrough, then?

Malik's eyes widened. He knew the cure, how to break people from Kaiba's power and influence. That's how they could stop all of this, that's how they could win! He grinned. Everything would be okay as long as they could find Joey! Hopefully, at least.

"Mariku, you're my brother. We don't have to fight." Malik said, diminishing all of his fire as he walked up close to his older brother. Mariku stood awkwardly, unsure of whether he should attack. Malik got close, close enough to wrap his arms around his brother and pull him close. "We're family. I love you."

And with that, the pretense shattered.

* * *

><p>Yami could claim he was only afraid of a few things. This was going to be added to his list of nightmares. "Oh Ra…" He cursed, covered up Yugi's eyes too late.<p>

The younger of the two vomited, and the older tried his best not to as well. Who would be so cruel, so evil…

In a jar, floating in green slime, sat Joey's face. His eyes were open and terrified, his mouth agape but unable to move, and disgusting flesh clinging to the back and front side from when it had melted off. And no doubt, in the box next to it, was his soul. The monitors read that all of his vitals were fine, his soul was fine… But who knew if he really was.

Being trapped away from your body was terrifying. Yami knew. Yami knew what it was like to be unable to kiss your boyfriend because it would transfer over your soul into his body, unable to fall asleep on a desk just incase he accidentally kissed the table. Being trapped and unable to get back. Not being able to move. He'd slowly become used to it, but for Joey, who was used to staying inside his body, just trapped back there somewhere unable to come to the front, being trapped away from his body would be traumatizing.

Kaiba would pay for this.

Yami knew better than to touch anything. When Yugi had said that Joey's body was stuck without the rest of him, he had only thought that Joey was missing a body part or two. Gruesome, but nothing that he didn't think Bakura couldn't heal if he had wanted to do so for the blond brooklynian. Not this.

"Yugi, we can't do anything for him like that. We need Kaiba to reverse it. Kaiba knows how to reverse it. I promise." Yami soothed, leading Yugi away from the sight.

"Y-Yami… I'm scared!" Yugi whimpered.

"I know, I know… I am too." Yami said in the most calming tone he could manage. He sucked at this. This comforting thing. He just was going to do what he did best, and run away from the mess that he wasn't sure even Kaiba could fix.

If the man was cruel enough to cut off someone's face and steal their soul, who knew what else they were capable of?

* * *

><p><strong>Hello! Ashamed late author is updating. Sorry this took so long. Originally the chapter was meant to end after Kaiba arrives with a faceless Joey in tow, but it continued on so that the chapter was suitably long. Hopefully it was worth the wait? No? I'm sorry for being a fail author!<strong>

**Thanks for all the favs, the comments, you name it. I love you all, and this story will hopefully continue on for another 3-5 chapters or so. Already it's about 67 pages long, 10 point font double spaced. I can't tell you when the next update is because I don't know myself, but I'll try not to delay it and hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later. Would you prefer shorter chapters with quicker updates or longer chapters with slower updates? I usually do the second one, just out of habit, but if you'd rather 8-9 pages per chapter rather than 10-13 pages, tell me so. I always appreciate your comments!**

**Also, Elle-Seren is fabulous and wonderful and I recommend you go read her fanfics. GO DO IT. *shameless promotion***


	6. Chapter 6

Bakura wasn't sure where he'd gotten himself into. This place looked like the 13th floor but something was distinctly off about it. The albino could sense it, smell it, see it in every shadow of the place. His energy was all thrown off.

Creeping along, he tried to see if he felt anything else even alive on this floor. There was nothing, everything was oddly cold and dry. The hallways were messed as if some had thrown a fit and fought down against something in here.

Even one of the doors was marked with a bloody X, and Bakura walked closer. His hand was already reaching for the doorknob when he was interrupted by a bone cold, chilling voice.

"Don't go in there."

"Shit! Who the fuck are you-!" Spinning around to see the speaker, Bakura's eyes widened. It was her. The girl. The girl who'd jumped. Kisara, the girl who'd jumped because Kaiba didn't love her back.

Her long white hair was trailing down her back, and Bakura didn't know if it had ever been blonde or if it was just the ghostly presence that made it look so dead. Her blue eyes were the only things with color, even though her dress had cheery floral patterns and a receptionist's badge. Her lips were a darker shade of ghostly grey than the rest of her, so Bakura assumed she'd been wearing lipstick or something similar.

She was an ominous presence, but Bakura had never been scared of ghosts. Even though this was his first time meeting one, and his original train of thought for never fearing ghosts was that they weren't real, but blah. Bakura didn't back down to piles of ectoplasm any day.

"There are bad things in there." She said, floating in mid air and transparent. Her voice was chilling and it would've made a lesser man shiver. Bakura was no lesser man.

"I'm going in there if that's what I've got to do! Go to hell already!" Bakura cursed, reaching again for the door. No ghosty ectoplasmy things could stop him from getting back to Malik and right now, a ghosty ectoplasmy thing was trying to stop him. Bakura didn't like it when he was interrupted or interfered with.

"There's a boy in there trapped without his soul." Kisara warned.

Bakura paused, before a deadly grin crept onto his face. "Bloody brilliant, thanks again sweet cheeks. Get gone now, Bakura is here to save the day."

Only one boy should be missing his soul, and that was Joey. If Joey's body was in there, he'd save himself a hell of a lot of trouble. Bakura could get home and back to Malik in no time, and Yami and Yugi had generally a lot less trouble getting his soul too.

"It's not just him! There's an inhuman thing in there too, listen to me! You don't want to walk in on that! It's so twisted!" The suicide victim tried one last time.

Bakura flung the door open. Like any inhuman thing would scare him, heh. He wasn't going to get scared of anything that could be hidden behind there. Nothing would scare him. Absolutely nothing.

Looking about the room, Bakura only whispered, "Oh shit." before realizing that he might have to change his previous statement.

* * *

><p>"Everyone here?" Malik called, looking at the purple hooded Rare Hunters surrounding him. He felt a sinking feeling. Of course not everyone would gather when he sent out that mass text. But Bakura hadn't been his first choice of someone who would ignore a text, not from him anyway.<p>

After he'd saved Mariku, he needed to talk to everyone about their plans. According to Mariku, there was an attack being launched by the Kaiba co. Stopping it was paramount to their success, because if it succeeded they would cease to exist.

"We're missing Yami and Yugi." Tea called out. "Should we go looking?"

Malik shook his head. "I'm here to make a personal announcement so everyone is briefed on the dangers we're about to face. Disturbing things are going down in Kaiba co. right now, and I need to explain it to all of you."

Murmurs went throughout the crowd, every nodding or whispering. Malik had to cough a little, and the entire group was back focused on only him. He knew it was a tough time for everyone, but he had to make his announcement and everyone had to be safe. He was responsible for them.

Malik began with, "Joey has been kidnapped. They've separated him, into body and spirit. Kaiba is holding him hostage."

Outrage and fury ran through the Rare Hunters like the wave through an overexcited group of football fans. Malik had to cough a little to regain their attentions. Joey had been a goof friend to all of them, and an even better double-agent. Joey was in trouble, and the desire to act now instead of wait for the rest of his announcement made Malik rather proud of his control of the Rare Hunters as they quieted and waited for him to speak again.

"Kaiba is a power-user. He can control emotions. Mariku and Ryou were underneath his control. I've found out how to break the emotional control. It's tricky though. It only works if you really mean it, if you pour your heart out into it. You have to tell them how you really feel. The truth, and nothing but the truth."

"How do you know, have you tested it?" Tristan asked. It was a valid question, and a good way to explain about Mariku. Malik wasted no time in manipulating it to his advantage.

"Yes, I've successfully managed to save my brother." Malik stepped aside to let his twin take front and center. The crowd cheered and there was a hoot or two. Mariku looked down at his feet, ashamed and unsure of how to show it.

Malik patted him on the shoulder, and gave him a little push towards speaking.

"You have no idea how sorry I am… it's really bad in there. You want it, and you never even consider that it's not you that wants it. That you're being controlled. Even if it makes no sense, your mind will fill in the blanks…" Mariku said, his voice hoarse with sadness and anger. He didn't even dare look up at the crowd.

The Rare Hunters murmured against themselves. They might've missed his next statement if his head hadn't snapped up and they'd all seen the clarity in his eyes. They knew they needed to listen. Such good pawns they were, Malik thought as he smirked.

"You have no idea you're being controlled. We would have no idea who was being controlled and who wasn't if they were acting normally. Joey could've been, Malik could've been, even Bakura could've been underneath their control and reporting our actions back to Kaiba if he so wanted." Taking a large breath, Mariku continued that with, "It makes sense that Kaiba thinks he has the strongest power in the world."

The hushed silence was one of the more terrified ones that Malik had ever heard. It was then Malik decided that he needed to take over from his brother. They couldn't scare their forces, they needed to rally them to the cause and plan an attack.

Having paranoid and terrified forces would not make for a good army.

Malik took front and center stage, and he exclaimed loudly, "We're going to attack Kaiba and save Ryou, Joey, and anyone else from this. Mokuba knows that power holders will be the first ones to go, and that the plans are nearly complete. While we don't know exactly what they are, we know that we need to stop him!"

Agreement went through the crowd as a wave.

"How will we counter?" Tea asked, eager and curious.

"Simple." Malik smiled, honest this time. "We attack first. They're launching their offensive but we have something better, no uniformity. He has to pick us off one by one, but if we can get to Kaiba then we can take them all down at once. We invade Kaiba co. Headquarters."

Agreement and clapping came with that. Mariku grinned. "Now, where are Yugi, Yami, and Bakura? They need to be in on this!"

"We don't know." Duke said, turning to Tristan with a worried look. "They didn't come when we called.

Mariku frowned. "They aren't captured by Kaiba, not while I was still there. Could they still be out looking for Joey?"

"That, or they found him…" Malik paused. "Bakura is known to be hasty… oh no, what if they're already in the Kaiba co. building?"

Mariku looked over to Malik, shocked. "I'll find out, it'll only take a second… I'll text Ryou… he'll know…"

The deadening and threatening silence engulfed them all as they waited for anything to come back to Mariku on his phone. What was only really a minute but what felt like a couple years, Mariku's head snapped up. "Someone is confronting the boss, and Ryou's playing guard dog. I assume someone's fighting. Someone's captured. There's no time, we have to strike right now!"

* * *

><p>"Nice place you got here, Kaiba." Bakura joked, staring into sharp blue eyes. Blood and machinery covered everything in the room, and the albino could barely walk in fear of running into something that could electrocute him or was disgustingly sticky.<p>

In the center was a large tube, and a mini-Kaiba. Only this mini-Kaiba wasn't quite right. In fact, mini-Kaiba was quite wrong. The fluids in the tube, a gooey pink gel like substance with occasional bubbles in it, had corrupted the boy inside of it to something that wasn't human.

Green hair was naturally floating in the water around him, and his skin was white. Not white, as in Anglo-Saxon, but white as in the color of paper and ice. The shadows on his skin were grey and his skin reminded Bakura so much of paper that he felt like he was looking at a papier-mâché human instead.

When people went so far as trying something like this, some inhuman clone, then Bakura had a right to feel disgusted. There were scenes like this in those horror movies that Ryou loved so much.

"Bakura… so, you have a stronger power than me." Kaiba's eyes snapped up to him, from his position on the couch in front of the tube. The CEO was large and imposing, and Bakura could feel wrongness flowing out from everywhere in the room.

Yet there was Bakura's prize, Joey with his faceless head laying on Kaiba's lap with the hands of the demon stroking his hair down. Joey's body was here, and his soul was hopefully with Yugi and Yami already. Bakura hated thinking it, but he had to trust the two twerps here. Kaiba was no easy foe.

"So I hear." Bakura snapped, waiting for the CEO to strike first. He'd wait until the CEO was attacking, and then he'd counterstrike at the weak point exposed. And if that weak point was Joey, he didn't really care. Joey would thank him for it later.

"I don't like this. Why do you work for Malik? Surely you know that Ryou is right, that Mariku is right about me… because I am right."

"You're not right." Bakura hissed, staring at Joey's body as it began to jerk and lurch in ways that no human body should. "If you were, then Joey wouldn't be in your hands, then you wouldn't be blackmailing Joey like this."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed, becoming more hawk-like as he studied the albino intruder. Bakura matched his gaze, trying to see if he felt his emotions manipulated. He would just deal with all of this without emotions, without any feelings at all, and if he started to feel anything, that was how he'd know if Kaiba was trying to use him.

It was a fool proof plan in Bakura's mind. He focused on ignoring all of his emotions. Kaiba was the target, that was all he needed to think on.

"Is that so? But love is such an easily malleable source. Joey ran right to me when he knew that I could hurt his sister, snap her like a little twig." Kaiba paused to laugh a little, a deep throated chuckle that made him sound more sinister than Bakura was sure he was okay with. Bakura was the villain here, he was the one with the power, so why was he feeling so unnerved?

He wasn't feeling unnerved, Bakura concluded. He didn't feel anything. He shoved his emotions right back down.

"You don't have anything to say to that?" Kaiba smirked. "But you think it's so bad that I'm using Joey's love for his sister. Malik is using you quite the same way, Bakura."

"He's not." Bakura hissed, pushing down the flood of feeling that came over him again.

"Well?" The brunet CEO shrugged smugly. "You think you love Malik, and so you want to partner with him. You want to work with him. You want to own him. He turns that against you, and you've become just another one of his minions. In this case, his queen piece."

Bakura knew that if he responded, he'd let out the tsunami of emotions he had locked up. He clenched his jaw and stayed silent. Kaiba could not hurt him.

"I think you're denying it without a word, just because you can't think of a good reason to defend him."

Silence. Joey's body stopped twitching, and Bakura didn't let himself feel relieved.

"Maybe it's because you love him, maybe it's because you love yourself and won't allow yourself to admit that you've been betrayed. I'm not using you like he is."

Silence.

Kaiba sighed. Maybe this was his last card, his final Ace up his sleeve. Bakura could resist it. Kaiba cleared his throat before saying, "Ryou saw what you did to Malik. That's what made him weak enough for me to take control of him."

Now that made Bakura speak. "I did nothing to Malik!"

"You did nothing, did you? So why did Malik kiss you, admit that he felt something for you? He ran away to Egypt not only to find those items, but because he couldn't stomach being near you. Why hasn't he kissed you like he did before after he came back?"

Bakura froze, all of his limbs stiff and his heart thumping against his ribs.

"I didn't force him to do anything. We haven't done anything since because…" Bakura didn't know. Kaiba's theory… what if it wasn't so crazy?

Malik hadn't told him he'd left, but he said it was only because of Mariku. That could've been a lie, although it could've not been. Malik was a silver-tongued genius of controlling and manipulating people, that was how he had such a strict control on the Rare Hunters and how he always got his way.

"Malik knew that if Joey got captured, you'd come here to search for him." Kaiba smirked. "That got rid of two problems, both the double-agent and the bastard who had raped him in the worst ways."

"You're trying to use me." Bakura spit, trying to deny the betrayal and guilt he felt.

Kaiba stroked Joey's hair. "Yes. But at least I'm not lying to you. Malik has never been truthful. He won't even tell you his past."

"I don't care about that!" Bakura picked up a notebook covered in phlegm and threw it right at the CEO. Kaiba only dodged, letting the bloody book smack into the tube behind him.

"You don't care that he killed Akefia?" Kaiba said soothingly.

* * *

><p>"Now, before anyone gets any ideas, Duke Devlin was by no means a major character in this story. But Duke Devlin was definitely the most sexy invader-"<p>

Tristan couldn't facepalm, but if it had been an option, he definitely would have facepalmed right then. Of course in the invasion plans, he would get stuck with Duke Devlin of all people. Duke was a little odd, but his main problem was that he couldn't seem to keep his hands to himself or stop talking about himself in third person.

While the cheer was nice as they walked down the corridor, it got old. In fact, Tristan rather hated Duke right now. Tristan was very peaceful most of the time. Unless Duke came into the picture.

Oh, and Duke was very in the picture.

Tristan glared at the nuisance, staring at the green eyed teen sprinting next to him. Little beads of sweat sparkled as they ran down his pale skin. Dammit, he gulped, it wasn't fair that Duke was such a ebony haired fucking sexy- Tristan wanted to punch himself in the face for just thinking that.

"This is serious! Joey is trapped in there! We have a mission" Tristan stated the obvious again as they made their way towards the next set of staircases. Duke rolled his eyes.

"Joey will be fine whether we run down this hallway silently or with chatter. I'm running as fast as I fucking can!"

"Save your breath then!"

"Save your own!" Duke protested, jumping onto the railing as soon as they met the next set of stairs downwards. Tristan ran, taking eight to ten steps at a time, but Duke slid at pretty much the same pace.

The sound of their hasty footsteps and the deafening silence that their not talking created made it really creepy to be in such a harshly lit building. Fit for a horror movie, the stairs seemed to stretch on forever. Tristan became rather scared of the silence, and the harsh light that didn't seem to make it any less dark inside.

When Malik had said that they invade the building and try to find Kaiba, Ryou, Yami, Yugi, or Bakura, it had seemed such an easy mission. Who even knew that there were so many stairs down here? How far down could one even go?

It was like the descent to hell, and the complicated thoughts buzzing around Tristan's head made him sick.

"Duke," Tristan panted, "Talk."

Duke grinned, victorious, and began to chatter once again.

Tristan knew that this was going to be a heart breaking and a horrible climax to some sort of sick story if things kept up like this. He only hoped they could change the ending.

* * *

><p>"This is sick. This is sick! This is so so so wrong!" Yugi sobbed into Yami's shirt. Yami's eyes were sharp glints of amethyst, searching the room for evidence as his hand ran through his boyfriend's hair comfortingly. He didn't want to hurt Joey when they moved him, fixed him, got him out somehow, and he didn't have a clue.<p>

While he was used to having his soul in odd places, the only thing he could think of to fix all of this was to… kiss Yugi.

"Yugi… if you don't mind… I think I have a way to temporarily fix this. Not permanently, but enough that we can safely leave here and get back to Bakura and find Joey's body."

Yugi wiped his eyes, standing back but still staring pointedly at his boyfriend and nowhere else in the nightmarish room they stood in. "What is it, Yami?"

Yami hated that he had to ask this, to explain this when Yugi would undoubtedly reject his plans and tell him no, but he needed to put it out there before it was too late.

"My curse is that anything I kiss receives my soul, and my body becomes soulless and rampages. We've never done this before… or tested this, but it seems safe enough. If Joey's soul is in that box-"

Yami was interrupted by a shuffling noise. Yugi stiffened, his hands clinging back to Yami's dampened shirt. Pulling his boyfriend a little closer, Yami stared around, looking for the cause of the noise. They weren't alone down here. There was someone- something here, and Yami wasn't going to let Yugi get hurt by it.

"Look and see if there's something on that side of the room, I'll stare to this side. Okay? Scream if you see something." Yami whispered, turning away from Yugi and squeezing his hand as tightly as he could.

"I will." Yugi choked out back.

There it was, the sound again. Like someone running behind the piles upon piles of scientific equipment and the shelves of record papers. The monitors blocked the view of the person, but Yami started to feel as if it wasn't really important to see this person.

"Actually, Yugi… I don't think this person is dangerous." Yami admitted. It was just a feeling, but if the person hiding was going to attack, would've he already have done so? He usually was spot on with his feelings like this. Yugi wasn't so intuitive, but Yami was only annoyed by that some of the time.

"They're in this place, Yami! This place is evil and nobody here is good! No one!" Yugi protested, squeezing Yami's hand harder. Actually it was kind of uncomfortable now, both of their hands sweaty and slippery. His fingers were getting squished.

Yami sighed. "It's probably just a worker from Kaiba co. that wasn't involved in this mess and hiding down here from the executives. Wouldn't they have attacked while we weren't aware if that wasn't the case?"

"That's a valid point…" Yugi said, releasing his hand a little bit. "Kaiba's army must not be that powerful if they missed an innocent employee like that."

Yami let out a sigh of relief. He really hated it when the younger teen questioned and disbelieved him, especially when he had a valid point. He smiled, feeling a little better already. If only Yugi listened to him more…

"Kaiba is weak, and of course his army is nothing to worry about. Only weak people stand behind walls and let minions do work for them." Yami laughed.

For some reason this had Yugi looking at him, alarmed and scared.

Yanking his hand away, Yugi turned to face his boyfriend. "Kaiba is controlling you! Yami would never drop his guard like this!"

Geez, now Yugi of all people was blaming him for being smart? There was no need to be jealous just because Yami had figured things out first. Yugi had always been such a needy boyfriend, always wanting friends around more, always whining about things, never quiet and they never even kissed. Never had sex either. Who dated someone who never satisfied them?

Yami let out a groan. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm serious alright! You're not Yami!" Yugi shouted, backing away towards the jar with Joey's head.

"I'm Yami! Have you ever thought that you're not fucking Yugi? I know who I am!" Yami screamed, frustrated and wanting to punch something. Hurt something. Hurt anything! And all of his anger focused on Yugi.

The annoying little snot himself.

"I'm myself! I know I'm myself! M-Malik said that if someone got turned then we were supposed to-"

"Malik? Malik knows better than me now? Whose boyfriend do you think you are? Certainly not mine if you think I'm not me!" Yami picked up the nearest object, a chair, determined to throw it at his stupid, dumbass boyfriend. Or make that ex-boyfriend. Yami didn't want anything to do with Yugi after this! Yami wanted to go home already, because this whole thing was fucking stupid.

Yami didn't even give a fuck about Joey and he certainly didn't care about the Rare Hunters!

The chair sailed past Yugi as he dodged, his eyes desperate and begging. Yami wanted to laugh. How stupid, stupid little Yugi thought that he could change things. Make things better! Save Joey, for fuck's sake! Such a retarded little optimist!

"I'm your boyfriend! Yami, you… you're the most important thing in the world to me! We're going to be together forever.. And ever… you said so yourself!" Yugi protested,

"I don't give a shit about you anymore!" Yami yelled, grabbing the front of his boyfriend's shirt and shaking him hard, painfully hard. Yugi let out a whimper and cringed as he was flung back and forth. With one last shake, Yami threw the little snot across the room and into a metal file cabinet.

"I LOVE YOU, YAMI!" Yugi screamed, before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.

And the pretense shattered.

Yami blinked. His knees felt weak, his heart heavy, his head jumbled. All the anger was gone, only the guilt of what he'd done remained.

"Oh… Yugi, I…" He croaked.

Yugi lay bleeding at the base of the cabinet, breathing heavily. Yami wanted to scream himself. He knew… he remembered, but that didn't mean he didn't stop it.

Talking to the enemy hiding somewhere in the room, he snarled, "That was a really dumb and desperate move. Because now I have a body, and so does Joey. Yugi won't be waking up for a while now. And here I just wanted to ask him for permission."

Silence was his response. Yami shook his head, determined. Yugi wasn't really that hurt, it was shock that had caused him to black out. The bleeding was on his side, and just from a deep scrape that had probably hit a blood vessel. Yugi wasn't unhurt, and certainly it would be painful, but Yami knew that Yugi would forgive him for this later.

Hopefully.

Cradling his boyfriend's body in his arms, he did something that he had never been able to do before. Yami slotted their lips together, painfully aware of being sucked out of his body as he did so. His body lay immobile for a second, before it's eyes snapped open.

And so did Yugi's. Yami stretched out the arms of his boyfriend, staring back at his own body. I'm so sorry, he thought to Yugi, who was still asleep in his own body.

Yami's body began to rage, but Yami grabbed both of it's arms and slammed it's mouth to the box in which Joey's soul was contained. If this worked, Joey would wake up in Yami's body, and they could both go find Bakura. That is if Joey wasn't too mentally traumatized to move.

The body stopped struggling, and fell limp in Yami's grip. Yami shook himself, it really was the oddest feeling to shake your own body, trying to wake up anything that was inside there.

The voice that came out definitely wasn't his own.

"Where am I?" Yami's body asked, and Yami grinned.

"Joey, right?"

"Yeah, who else would I be but…" Joey looked at himself in Yami's body, and then at Yugi. "If I'm in Yami's body, where's Yami?"

"I'm Yami. Yugi is sleeping in here too." Yami explained, watching the shadows for movement. "We need to get up to Bakura and Kaiba to stop this all from going down, now! I'll brief you on the run!"

* * *

><p>The sounds of another pair of footsteps echoed throughout the hallway as Mariku and Malik dashed through the halls of Kaiba co. Mariku had promised that if they found Ryou, then they'd get to him before he completed his mission. He was on one of the upper floors, that was all that Mariku really knew about that, and Malik shuddered as he ran.<p>

Ryou's mission was to kill Bakura, because only Ryou would get Bakura off guard. That was, if Kaiba didn't get Bakura under his control swiftly enough.

Mariku panted next to him, dashing up stairs upon sets of stairs. This was troublesome, all the elevators were just too dangerous and Malik hadn't run so far and so gruelingly for a long time. The last time was in Egypt, and he didn't like to think back to what happened back then.

"I think we should try the 13th floor first." Mariku breathed, unable to catch his breath with all the running they were doing.

"13th floor?" Malik would've whined, but it came out rather as something of a moan. "We have to run up 13 flights of stairs?"

"That's a floor no one goes! A-A good place… to hide… Joey's body… from us!" Mariku tried, his voice straining from breathing and running. They were quickly loosing stamina. Speed was still the most important factor though, and so they continued to run.

"We're almost there…" Malik cried, seeing the sign on the stairs that said 10th floor. Only 3 more floors left to go.

"I'm actually… really nervous about this!" Mariku announced, taking a bit of the lead as Malik struggled to keep up.

"What if Bakura has already been turned once we get there?" Malik said in a rush. That was his biggest worry, that Kaiba would get ahold of Bakura before they did. With Bakura on the other side, how the hell would they fight? How did one fight against the strongest power user in the world?

He might only be developing his powers and he had so much more potential, but that didn't mean that he wasn't the strongest power user in the world. Malik only had fire at his command, how could he fight against a psychic?

"Don't… worry too much about that!" Mariku panted out as they passed the sign that said 11th floor. "Just tell him you love him and he'll be fine again!"

Malik blushed red through his flush from running. He could barely moan out, "Does this mean you approve of us?"

Mariku gave him a knowing look. Malik caught it, and laughed as best he could as they sprinted past the sign for the 12th floor. Of course.

"Almost there!" They cried out, fighting up the last steps and onto the 13th floor. There something was distinctly off about it at first sight. Both twins pulled straight to a stop, unable to catch their breaths as they could sense how wrong this floor just was. It felt almost like something was interfering with Malik's powers…

Barely up the stairs, they were frozen. It felt like the whole floor had been freeze dried, somehow. Everything was thrown about haphazardly, as if a fight had gone down, and really it was a possibility. The whole place was a mess, and a familiar white head paced back and forth in front of them.

"Nice to see you two. I'm afraid I can't let you go any further. It's sad to know that Bakura is controlling you, Mariku, but we'll fix this." Ryou gave them a sweet smile as a gun was held to Malik's forehead.

There was no time before the bang echoed throughout the 13th floor.

* * *

><p>"I swore I heard a shot." Tea argued with Miho as they charged down the hallway. "I don't think that was a warning shot, either."<p>

Miho jingled as she ran, tears streaking down her face. "I have to believe everyone is okay! I have to!"

Tea gave her a shaky smile, knowing that if her resolve wavered Miho wouldn't have any support left to keep herself going. She would collapse. Tea had only wanted to help her come to terms with the truth, that someone was likely to be dead, but she just felt guilty now.

"We'll have to speed up though, one gun shot means that someone here has a gun and that we need to provide help to everyone we can!" Tea cheered, feeling rather out of place. The halls were formidable and Miho's light footsteps and the jingling of her charms didn't make it seem any less so. The contrast between sweet and innocent, and the corrupt nature of the place, was striking and sickening.

They didn't run very far until they hit a dead end.

There was someone approaching behind them, and there was no place to run. Pulling Miho behind her protectively, Tea glared down the hallway. She hid her terror behind a mask of authority and power, like she was strong and fearsome. Tea had no other choice really, Miho was terrified and crying helplessly behind her, clinging to her long sleeves and shivering.

The figure wasn't very tall, but the harsh lighting made it difficult to discern much else about them. They approached slowly, not at a run or a jog but a saunter. Tea held her arms out wide, assuming a frontal stance and shielding Miho from any threat of danger.

"Tea, it's just me!" The figure said, in a familiar high pitched but not female tone… rather, high from youth.

Miho spoke up from behind Tea, her voice hopeful and broken as she assumed, "Mokuba?"

The figure was close enough that Tea could make out the main features, and Miho once again had a lucky guess. Mokuba stood, rather disheveled and distressed, in front of them. He looked about as scared as they were, and it was a relief to the both girls that he wasn't threatening of any sort.

"I'm Mokuba… You guys, you have no idea how much help I need! Malik, where's Malik? My brother's gone crazy!" Mokuba rushed, his eyes wild with fear. Tea crouched down to his height and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. This wasn't enough, they needed to know more. Malik had his radio on him somewhere and Mariku did too.

If this data was important to the mission, they would report it right away.

"Mokuba, can you tell us what happened here? From the beginning, if you will." Tea said, her tone steady. She was rather proud of herself, she sounded strong and in control, despite being quite the opposite. She could be the strong one, she could be the anchor for which the scared ones could latch onto in this battle.

Mokuba looked around nervously, fidgeting and tense underneath her hand. She gave him a smile, comforting him as much as she could. Finally he started to speak.

"Kaiba found out about Joey… because Joey was talking to me about rebel things and Kaiba grabbed him, furious. It was like someone had told him Joey was there, because I don't know how else he had known-"

"Take a deep breath. We need a clear account, okay? Then I'll radio Malik and tell him what's been going on here." Tea took a breath herself, watching the child copy her. Soon, their breathing was slow and matched, and Mokuba looked a little less crazed.

"Kaiba… he told me that he never wanted to see me again, that I was useless and stupid, that I had failed him and that I wasn't good for anything anymore… and he grabbed Joey and flung him across the room, slamming him into the wall. He passed out, and there was blood and I swore he was dying… I've never seen Kaiba so mad, Tea!"

Tea acquiesced slowly. Miho, leaning on Tea's arm, smiled shakily. The purple haired lucky girl, who'd been mostly silent, reassured him with, "Joey's going to be fine. We're going to save him."

Mokuba nodded, wearily, and repeated. "Kaiba dragged his body out of the room and took him downstairs. He came back up sometime after, bringing Joey back with him, but Joey wasn't okay. He was twitching and fighting and his face-! His face was gone!"

"That's his curse, Mokuba. Joey's face goes away. His body should go limp afterwards, Joey is asleep when his face goes away." Miho quivered, her hands going around her mostly bare shoulders. Tea looked back at her, noticing again how tiny she seemed inside of the Rare Hunter cloak.

"I… I knew that… but, something else was severely wrong! I could just tell! Tea, we have to save him! I've always known that we have to stop Kaiba, but… something… it feels like there's something sinister going on here, a darker plot! I know there's something wrong… Tea, I think…"

"You think what, Mokuba?" Tea pronounced softly. "You think what?"

With one last wobble, Mokuba muttered, "I think that Kaiba has somehow altered my memories."

* * *

><p><strong>Don't kill me. Please, don't kill me. Remember important things. Like, how guns actually work. And how ninjas can time-space travel to save Malik. REMEMBER! AND DON'T KILL MEEEEE! I really am sorry for how depressing and not light hearted these chapters have begun to be, but there should only be one chapter of it more before we get back to happier topics. <strong>

**And worship me, because there is an... Update, really quick for me too! And don't say it isn't, because usually your next update would be in June or so. I'm very inconsistent as a writer... Also, go check out 's fic This Town Ain't Big Enough. It also has superheroes and is amazing! *promotes***


	7. Chapter 7

**Don't hate me too much for the super-duper-late chapter! I'm sorry, this was kind of difficult to write. Ah, whatever. You don't read this for me, you read it for Malik and Bakura. o(*~*)o**

**So, enjoy and I'm sorry for the wait!**

* * *

><p>"Fuck, Ryou." Mariku swore, his head spinning and his arms numb. He hadn't even known… Kaiba was dangerous indeed. Malik stood, panting and with blood dripping from the side of his mouth.<p>

"You tried to shoot me!" He accused, a red hot bullet dropping to the floor. Ryou's hands were trembling, his only weapon rendered obsolete by Malik's powers.

Ryou's gun was old fashioned, and used gun powder. Mass purchases of weapons made the government suspicious, and Ryou's was an older type bought to deflect the nosy. It had been a gamble, but Malik had gambled and won. He'd hit the jackpot.

For the gun to fire, it needed a spark. Otherwise, it was just a loud noisemaker.

"You're scum, you know that! Scum!" Ryou hissed, throwing away the useless toy in his hands. "Resisting Kaiba, it's just not right!"

Malik snarled, shoving the white haired boy back a few paces. "Now, Mariku! Break the influence!"

Mariku took a deep breath, his purple eyes showing indecision and anger. "Fuck no, I never felt that way about him! I can't tell him that when it was just the brainwashing talking-"

"No!" Malik protested, his hands barely able to keep down the struggling albino as Ryou tried to escape his hold. "You don't have to lie! I know the truth, you did before the mind-control and you know it! Those emotions, they were still yours at one point! You have to try!"

"I'm not ready yet!" Mariku backed away, shaking his head. "I'm not ready!"

Malik threw Ryou against the wall as hard as he could, just to narrowly dodge a punch as Ryou sprung right back up. His leg hooked around Ryou and pined him to the wall for another few seconds until Malik was shaken off again.

With the way Ryou was heading towards the door, Malik had no time for his brother's insecurities.

"Mariku! I know you're afraid; you hurt Rishid and Father because you loved them and you felt they betrayed you! But I'm not the only person you can trust! You can trust Ryou, the real Ryou! You can tell him!"

Mariku looked warily at Ryou, who was snarling curses at a pace that would make even a sailor blush. The tanned teenager looked back to his brother, who was barely keeping pace with Ryou. This fight wouldn't last much longer; the anger that was being fed into Ryou would keep him on an unnatural adrenaline high.

Taking a deep breath, Mariku whispered, "Ryou… I hurt the people I care about, it's always just been how things go. I know I'm a lot like your older brother, and I know that our thing, whatever it was, wasn't real… we were being controlled… but sometimes when a person is given something, lent something, it starts to become theirs anyway…"

"Faster!" Malik demanded, chasing and barely restraining a vicious albino.

"I liked you beforehand but I didn't know what it was. Mostly it just annoyed and made me think I hated you but now, fuck, I think I'm in love with you." So it wasn't the perfect speech he had wanted, but Mariku had had to finish up quickly. His eyes started looking over at the white form in Malik's grip.

Ryou had fallen limp as soon as the word 'love' had come out, and Malik didn't relinquish him just yet. If he was acting to make a quick escape, they would be in trouble. While Malik could stop a gun, nothing was stopping Ryou from grabbing it again and finding another one of the groups in the building.

"Mariku…" Ryou's trembling voice was the only thing heard in the silent room. "Do you mean it?"

Mariku let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding. "Yes, Ryou. I mean it."

Ryou's gentle eyes met Mariku's. "I'm so confused right now… I'm sorry, Mariku."

Malik coughed, releasing Ryou from his death grip. They stood awkwardly before a bone-chilling laugh made them all flinch. Ryou especially, as he glanced around the nightmare with newly terrified eyes. It proved that they had little time to stop whatever it was that was going on.

Malik led the way, heading towards a door painted with blood. Pausing before grasping the door handle, he looked back at his brother and the albino. He whispered, "Be careful. We don't know what's waiting for us."

"Can't we wait, stay here and plan… or prepare, or something?" Ryou whispered, his fingernails making little crescent moon shapes on his own skin.

Both twins understood. Finally being yourself, and the first thing you have to deal with while not under the influence is the stench of drying blood, the frigid air that one usually found in a slaughter house, and the sight of death painted all over the walls. They admitted and would always admit they were just as scared, but they knew that the only way to stop this was to find the perpetrator and remove the threat.

So neither twin answered or considered Ryou's question, and Mariku opened the door, sure as he swung it open to the horrors inside.

* * *

><p>Joey panted, his voice sounding off coming out of Yami's body. "Fuck you! Fuck you, Yami, and your fucking leather pants!"<p>

Yami snorted, crossing his… Yugi's arms. "Would you rather to be inside of a box right now?"

"Thanks, really. But ya could've worn something better for running! I'm gonna get leather burn on your thighs!" Joey glared at him.

They both had to laugh at little at the sheer awkwardness of their situation.

"I just realized something." Yami said, his brain figuring out one of his mistakes. Shit. And they had run too far to go back. Joey gave him a look that didn't quite fit in Yami's real face.

"What?"

"We forgot your face."

"We forgot what?"

"Your face. It was in a jar, with gross green stuff that kept it from dissolving and going back to your body. We left it there. In that lab."

"We forgot my face!" Joey looked stricken. "I need that!"

"Well, we're going to hope that once we defeat Kaiba, we can head back with it. I'd really like to stop invading Yugi's body soon. I'm sure this is hurting him." Yami sighed. His hand had been covering the scrape, which was only oozing blood now. Anymore blood loss and the Yugi's body would pass out. Yami needed to be awake.

They were half way up, and on the 6th or 7th floor. Finally, Yami stopped the two of them from running. Joey looked relieved at this, his hand trying to fix Yami's pants.

"Let's just take the elevator. Who cares, they already know we're here."

But the sound of approaching footsteps put the both of them on their guard, backs together as they looked around for their attackers. The steadily increasing thuds had them both sweating in fear, wondering what horrible sight would turn the corner.

Tristan and Devlin turned the corner and were charging at them.

Yami let out a breath of relief. So it was just those idiots. That's good then. No enemy, no battle, no injuring his boyfriend's body. That was really a close one.

Both looked really sweaty and red-faced from running, but there was no doubt it was Tristan and Duke. Yami was weary to drop his guard too much yet, they could be mind controlled by now. They could still be dangerous. They didn't seem like it, as they came skidding to a stop in front of the two.

"Yugi! Yami! We're so glad we found you, we were so worried!" Tristan exclaimed, pulling Yami into his arms for a bear hug. "Yugi, you're bleeding!"

Tristan seemed to be tearing up a bit, his eyes watery and threatening to overflow.

Yami grunted. "It's not Yugi. It's Yami. And that's Joey. We did a bit of body swapping."

That surprised the two, but it seemed to get past their logic and was stored in their minds as 'just another weird power thing'.

"Oh?" Devlin looked around at them. "So Yugi is Yami and Yami is Joey? How?"

"I woke up in his body, that's all I really know." Joey said, patting Tristan on the back.

"It was me." Yami admitted. "I knew that if I kissed Yugi-"

Duke grabbed both of Yami's hands and started dancing around in a circle, chanting, "YOU FINALLY KISSED YUGI!"

Yami was too disgruntled to say much more, as he was swung about wildly by his so-called friend. Joey figured everything out, his fingers drumming on his arm in contemplation.

"I get it. Yami kissed Yugi, so Yami's soul went into Yugi's body. And his body had so soul left, so it'd take back the soul of whatever it kissed. So he had it kiss whatever they put my soul in, and so I'm in his body… does that mean he'll make me kiss myself?"

Yami didn't say anything, he was too dizzy.

"Do you know what this means, Tristan?" Duke said excitedly, holding Yami close to his chest. His green eyes were shining with eagerness and Tristan mirrored the look.

"Yugi and Yami HAVE to kiss again now!" They chanted like middle school girls.

Yami was glad he didn't pass out from sheer ludicrous. He muttered, "I think they completely forget where they are right now."

"You've been dating him for so long, it's no wonder they haven't started baking a damn cake!" Joey punched the air with a wide grin.

"Guys, we are in enemy territory, Joey has no body and no face, and Yugi is bleeding! My love life is the least important thing ever right now!" Yami demanded, pulling himself out of Duke's grasp.

The other three turned to serious at a speed that made a bipolar jealous. They saluted, standing straight. Yami figured it was time to get up to the bad guys and screw being hidden. The elevator proved dangerous; Kaiba could cut the cords, fill it with poison gas, and leave it hanging somewhere between floors so they couldn't escape it. But Kaiba already knew they were here, that spy must've told them.

So really, the stairs were no less dangerous. And they were a fuckload slower.

"The elevators, guys. We have to take the elevators. I know it sounds stupid, but they already know we're here and this is no longer a discreet type of mission. This is a search and rescue, and we need to find Joey's body before I become a permanent resident in my boyfriend."

Joey blinked. "What you mean, a permanent resident…?"

"Exactly what I said." Yami sighed. "If we can't recover your body, then you take mine. I'll let Yugi decide what happens to me, whether I stay with him, or end up in some other inanimate object later. It's his body, so I'll respect his wishes."

"Yami…" Tristan whispered. "No. You can't give up on life like that. It wouldn't be permanent! We'll find Joey, and even if we don't, we can always find another body for you somehow!"

Joey stared at Yami, too shocked to form words.

Duke placed a comforting hand on Tristan's shoulder. "We'll never let a friend be thrown away like that. We respect your decision and your potential sacrifice, but we won't let you make it."

"It's my soul!" Yami threatened, his eyes almost feral. "I'm not making Yugi keep it! He's a teenager, and it's my soul, it's my curse! It's not his!"

Joey finally spoke up. Softly, with his head lowered, he said, "It's my mistake! Neither of ya will have to… ya make it sound like ya have to give your body up to me! When I'm the one who got sucked out of my own body in the first place because I was the one who wasn't a good enough double agent! Kaiba… if I've learnt nothing more about Kaiba, I at least know this…"

Joey's head snapped up, Yami's face serious and almost terrifying in intensity. "This isn't what he wants! He's being controlled!"

* * *

><p>"I know it sounds crazy, but something's definitely wrong here. This isn't what Seto wants, he's being controlled somehow!" Mokuba said, barely keeping up with Tea and Miho as they ran towards the next set of stairs.<p>

"What do you mean, Mokuba?" Miho shook her head, her bracelets jingling. Tea agreed, this seemed too odd. What didn't Kaiba want? How could he be controlled?

They only ran so far, when a flurry of black interrupted them. Miho didn't even have enough time to scream.

* * *

><p>Mariku swung the door open. All three entered, with Ryou in the back. The room was foul, and it stunk like a dead body. Malik's eyes went flying the center figure in the room.<p>

White hair, red eyes, and a feral smirk. Malik gritted his teeth, unsure of where the flood of emotions came from. Every motion under the sun he could feel; relief, happiness, love, trust, misery, terror, disgust, and anger. It took less than three seconds before he felt unadulterated rage filter through his system and become dominant.

"Bakura! How dare you become controlled!" He screamed, charging forward with fire ignited in both hands. "How dare you be so weak?"

Mariku and Ryou seemed alarmed, unable to tell what was going on. Malik no longer cared about either of them. He had been betrayed by Bakura, and all he wanted to do was kill him for it.

Then he realized, through the haze of anger, that this was off. Malik was too upset, too angry… These weren't Malik's emotions, then. Malik no longer cared. Bakura mattered, Bakura had betrayed him, Bakura had been a stupid asshole and gotten himself into this, Bakura never followed orders, Bakura, Bakura, Bakura, Bakura!

Malik dodged a punch by side-stepping left and shot a fireball that barely missed the albino. They were evenly matched. Oh well, that was just too bad! Malik could cheat. Malik didn't care about Kaiba, but if Kaiba wanted to live, he'd make Bakura leave himself open to prevent the attack from hitting!

Malik charged again, his feet so light they barely hit the ground before he dashed again.

Bakura could keep up with his speed fine, and each attack was blocked easily. The Egyptian felt even more rage, for he knew that Bakura was only going easy on him because he didn't want to waste his powers.

Malik would make him use them, then! Anything to hurt Bakura, anything to hurt Bakura!

"Malik! Malik, what are you doing?" Ryou gasped, from his position behind Mariku. Malik ignored him.

"Malik! Stop this! You have to break the control on Bakura, you have to break the control!" Mariku demanded, creating a wall of water to shield himself and Ryou from astray fireballs. Malik had stopped caring where the fireballs hit when he threw them, as long as they hit Bakura.

Kaiba laughed from his position on the couch. "He won't listen. He's under my control, too."

Malik grinned. So it was true. He was being controlled. He didn't care that he was, he just wanted to fight! He wanted Bakura's blood, smeared all over the ground! He wanted to cause pain! He wanted to smell burning flesh, he wanted angry red scars on previously perfect alabaster skin!

"No, Malik!" Ryou screamed. "You can't hurt Bakura! You love him!"

He disregarded that as unnecessary information. He might've loved Bakura once, but he didn't care anymore. Bakura deserved to die for his crimes, deserved to die slowly with blood leaking out of his pores. Deserved to be burned to the point of death only to live and heal and repeat the cycle of pain and blood and death!

Mariku used water to hit Malik's heels and slow him down to a stop. Damn him, Malik cursed, as Bakura leapt on the advantage and used his power to freeze Malik's body.

Mariku, out of breath and panting from using so much of his power, yelled, "Malik, get a hold of yourself! You're my brother! We're gonna stick out for each other always, we promised! I won't let you do this!"

"You have no right to stop me!" Malik screamed, his sheer willpower breaking Bakura's control. Or maybe Bakura released him, but it didn't matter because he could move again, and fire was already licking his palms obediently. It wanted to destroy. He wanted to destroy with its power.

He didn't care who it burned, as it grew too big to hold in his palms and pink puffy burns were all over his palms.

Ryou screamed again eye-splittingly loudly, helpless from where he stood. "Bakura! Malik! Stop this now!"

"Shut, freak." Bakura laughed, cutting his brother off with a wave of his hand. Malik used the opportunity to launch himself on his opponent, sending them both to the ground. The fire in his hands burned through Bakura's shirt, leaving holes and hungry flames and melting buttons behind.

Malik didn't care enough to listen into Mariku and Ryou's conversation, hushed as it was behind their stupid little wall of water. Bakura was hissing in pain underneath him, and he was oddly turned on by it. He wanted to hurt him more, cause him more pain, cause him to swear like a sailor and wreathe in torture.

"You're so stupid." Malik spit. "You have a great family, you have friends now, and you let yourself be changed over to Kaiba's side! You should've been stronger!"

Bakura laughed cruelly from underneath him. "Stronger than who? Stronger than you?"

The albino shoved the Egyptian off of him and across the room, slamming him into the wall so hard that it cracked the wall. Malik fought to stay conscious as he fell down to the ground. Through sheer anger, he did so.

Flames were everywhere in the room, and Kaiba had pulled out a fire extinguisher from somewhere. He was calmly spraying about, when Malik's anger fueled him enough to stand up again. When he stood, the fire stood too, and everywhere it was reached up to the ceiling.

"Die!" Malik screamed, lunging towards Bakura once again.

"No! Both of you stop!" Ryou screeched. "I love you both, why can't you both stop fighting? Malik, you're my close friend and I'm so sorry for hurting you! Bakura, I never ever blamed you for Akefia! I never did! It's not your fault, it's never been! It was a mistake and no one blames you! I've forgiven you and I never ever stopped loving you! Why can't the both of you just stop fighting?"

Malik laughed. That wasn't going to work on him! Ryou thought he had a chance to do something? Ryou didn't do anything-

Yet the pretense still shattered.

* * *

><p>"Yugi!" Tea called out, Mokuba in her arms as she ran towards the sight. "We saw you on the elevator and we headed up a floor to see if we could catch you!"<p>

Miho jingled behind her as they caught up to not only Yugi, but Yami, Duke, and Tristan as well.

Yami scratched the back of his head in a deceivingly Joey manner, and for having know them all so well for many years, Tea just smiled. "Sorry Joey, didn't realize you were in Yami's body."

"We don't have much time left. There's something going down in that room, and from the sound of flames, Malik's fighting." Yugi explained, which therefore from how he was standing, was really Yami, as he clenched his fists.

"Can we even go in there?" Miho wondered. "Or is the fire too dangerous to try?"

Joey-in-Yami's-body spoke up, "Do we even have a choice? Something's going on here. Mokuba's unconscious from something, which isn't something that Seto would ever do. He'd never do anything like this if Mokuba was in the building. Or nearby. Anywhere that he could get involved… this pretty much proves the Theory that Seto's not himself."

"There's another thing too." Tea stated, "It isn't really Kaiba's fault Mokuba passed out. There was this stranger, who we ran into while heading up here. He was tall and wearing a large black cloak, covering his head and his face. He threw this…"

She pulled from her pocket a dart with a medical syringe in it. "…at Mokuba and attempted to steal him. It looked like Kaiba, but it makes no sense. Why would Kaiba disguise himself in his own building?"

Everyone fell silent in contemplation, Tristan patting Tea's shoulder as she began to look more and more overwhelmed. Miho clutched Tea's free hand, gripping it with such force that her knuckles turned white. The silence almost seemed deadly somehow, then, and everyone rushed to break it.

"We're definitely on to something." Tristan confirmed, looking over to the door, where the flames were beginning to burn through the walls and the door. "But either we figure it out fast or we figure it out later, because I bet Joey's real body, Kaiba, Malik, Bakura, Ryou, and Mariku are all in there."

Duke fidgeted, looking over to the door. Tristan squeezed his shoulder in a comforting manner, but he shrugged it off.

"I can't stand waiting here!" He declared.

"He's right, the room won't last much longer." Joey punched his fist in the air, and lowered it to point at the door. "We need to take action!"

Yami became the voice of reason. "Our friends may be inside, but this fire is Malik's power. He won't kill himself or them, and if we get involved, one of us might get hurt. Mariku can control water, so he should be able to protect himself and the others from Malik's flames without much trouble. We may end up ruining what they're trying to achieve."

"Are we really just going to leave them?" Miho gasped. Tea squeezed her hand a little.

"No, I never said that. We'll help them out in another way-" Yami felt the air buzzing, and upon hearing the sound of something slicing the air in half, he jumped backwards to dodge.

"It seems we don't have that choice anymore." Yami finished, "We're being attacked."

A figure in all black robes appeared, laughing in a voice that sounded too close to Kaiba's for comfort. The entire group assembled with the weaker party members in the middle of the circle, and the stronger defending the outside.

Tea held Mokuba close to herself, being stuck in the middle with Miho not from her lack of power but from the need to protect the unconscious. Duke filled in the space she usually stood, closing up the circle tighter than normal.

"It's the man who attacked us before!" Miho whispered, clinging close to Tea for support. Tea looked to the black-covered man, and she smirked.

"You're right, it is." She pushed Mokuba into Miho's arms, before standing up. "I have a plan to deal with him! Everyone has to trust me!"

There was a unison nod.

Tea concentrated, one hand going to her millennium hour-glass. It hadn't been too long ago when they had seen the man down two floors. He must've taken the elevator. Therefore, she could trap his time. It wasn't something she'd ever tried before, and she might've been pushing her limits, but she knew that she could do this.

She focused, feeling his time and surrounding it with her will. Once he was secure, she snapped her eyes open, and noticed that everywhere, time had frozen around her. A dart was inches from her neck. She side stepped it, completely free from the limits of time.

She had no clue how she'd done this, but once she figured it out, Tea knew that Bakura might have a few more competitors for strongest in class. Maybe it was adrenaline that was feeding her power, as she strode forwards, grabbed onto the essence of the man, and chucked him as far back in time as she could manage.

The dart flew and hit the hall as time started up again. Tea turned around, and smirked at the rest of them.

"Holy shit, Tea!" Joey laughed. "When did you get there?"

"It's my secret-" Tea felt her knees wobble. Whoops. She'd used way too much power. And the fire in the other room was still roaring. Tristan walked over and picked her up, carrying her over his shoulder.

"Sorry, Tea." He apologized, before they all turned to the door with new intent. The fire was only getting stronger.

* * *

><p>Bakura felt the anger die. The truth of before was just a lie again. He felt good, he felt strong, he felt in control. And then he saw that Malik hadn't been affected at all.<p>

He had 3 seconds to jump and dodge the fireball. Malik was obviously hurting himself. He was bleeding everywhere, but he couldn't stop fighting. His palms were burned.

Was there another way to break the power, other than confessing feelings like love? Bakura looked over towards Mariku, wondering when he would say his feelings.

Mariku looked over to him, as if expecting the same thing.

"Mariku!" Bakura growled. "It only works if you're honest! It'd be quicker if you just said whatever the hell you feel for him, he's your brother!"

Mariku looked over at Malik. The flames were burning everywhere. It didn't even look as if Malik was controlling them anymore. He was too wild, too out of control. This was dangerous, there was no chance that Malik would even be able to continue onwards if he continued to fight.

Bakura looked at Malik. Well, he could try to hold him down for a while. Bakura didn't even know if he could do so again. Before, holding onto Malik's soul had been like holding onto a hot coal without any gloves. He felt burned, singed.

"Malik, listen to me! I'm your brother-"

Bakura ignored completely ignored Mariku, too busy planning his next move. It would be safest for the both of them though, if he stopped this fight now.

Bakura reached out with his mind, and encountered nothing but flames. Malik had been entirely consumed by anger, and he was all fire and no humanity. He wanted to eat, to hurt, to kill, to consume. Bakura couldn't touch him anymore.

"I love you a lot! We're really close, and I was dick under Kaiba's control so I'm really sorry!"

Bakura teleported out of the way of a fireball, landing behind Malik. He threw his arms around, and despite his burns, grabbed the tanned wrists. If Mariku would get to saying his piece already!

"Bakura, you have to say it! It's honesty, right? I have kept no secrets from him, he knows I love him!" Mariku yelled. "I said it, it didn't work!"

"I already tried too, Bakura! You have to tell him! Now!" Ryou added.

Bakura felt Malik's warm skin, and his feral lavender eyes met his own brown ones, and Bakura didn't know what to even say.

Malik could kill himself if he kept this up. Normally, Bakura would've decided that it was stupid to have a partner so out of control. Normally, Bakura would've taken Ryou out of danger as the first thing. He wouldn't have cared about anyone else.

Bakura did care, he decided. This was no longer a partnership.

"Malik, I've won." Bakura said softly in Malik's ear, barely keeping Malik's wrists still from the sheer heat. It smelled like burning flesh, and Bakura no longer knew if the scent was his own or Malik's because the stinging pain was everywhere and fire was everywhere.

"Hurry up!" Mariku screamed, the flames evaporating the water barrier and Kaiba's extinguisher useless. Mariku grabbed Ryou's hand, running outside of the room with him to keep him safe from the flames.

They were right. But Bakura didn't even know the truth himself. He didn't know what to admit. He didn't want to say it was love, because he had never loved anyone like this before.

"I don't want you to die!" Bakura said, his tone desperate and angry. "Malik, I hate this! Don't make me hurt you anymore than you already are, I can't stand that! I'll hurt you to stop you, because you matter!"

Malik hissed, breaking free of Bakura's grip and jumping back as far as he could without landing in the flames that had engulfed much of the room.

"I don't care if you don't stand me anymore!" Malik screamed.

"I do! I care!" Bakura ground out. "I care, Malik! You're killing yourself and I don't want it."

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

"I don't!" Bakura felt himself calm down. "I don't! I don't hate you, Malik. We're friends, right? We're partners. I like touching you, I like trusting you, I like it! I want you! You're mine! I'll take care of you because I know you've got my back too. This isn't you, because I know you! And since I'm wasting all my time here trying to save you, it means I love you!"

The pretense didn't just shatter. It smashed into so fine of pieces that there was nothing left. No sound, no fire, nothing but dust in the wind.

The world went dead.

* * *

><p>Yami slammed open the doors to the bloody room on the 13th floor and strode inside like a king. The rest of the group trailed after.<p>

They had been through a lot in this building. They hadn't learned much about the situation inside the room either. While Mariku had jumped outside with Ryou in his arms, both were too badly burnt to do much explaining, and had left to the elevator in hopes of getting to a hospital. All that was told was that Bakura and Malik were fighting.

If this was their version on a lover's spat, it was a deadly one.

Tea had slipped unconscious, Yugi's body was taking a toll, Tristan's strength could only carry so many, Miho certainly wasn't lucky enough, and Duke and Joey were the only two left without a serious injury. The group had no clue what had just happened, other than that the flames they had been battling to try and get inside stopped.

Tea was slung over Tristan's shoulder like a potato sack. Miho stood next to the two of them, holding Mokuba in her arms. She was a toothpick, and just holding him was tough, but she was managing. It probably was taking up all of her lucky just to keep everyone alive. There was none to spare, or so it seemed.

Duke didn't have a use for his powers but he stood with his back ramrod straight and strong. Joey was next to him, again without any powers or abilities he could really use. Yami led the group, despite Yugi's injury which was slowing him down.

Yugi hadn't woken up yet. Yami was afraid he might never, not until Yami left his body. Yami hated it, he wanted to kill himself because of it. He shouldn't have ever done this. If Yugi didn't wake up, Yami might as well have killed him.

They were all in despair, and they kept fighting on. The flames were gone, there was no more enemy inside to fight, they hoped, and so they walked in, a united front.

Malik was in Bakura's arms, about as knocked out as one can be and covered in burns that stood out bright pink on his tanned skin. Bakura was guarding him like a dog after its master, glaring at Kaiba, who was sitting in the center of the room, also guarding a body, Joey's. Both of them looked confused, neither had escaped the wrath of the flames. Only one thing did.

The room held a large tube, and inside a creature, which looked a lot like Kaiba. The tube was filled with a neon pink gel that looked like aloe-vera in a bottle, from the bubbles that were inside it.

The boy inside was awake. He, no… it was too much of a monster to be a 'he'. It had green hair, and ice-white skin. He didn't look real. Yami felt disgusted. It was like looking at Joey's face. It was wrong in so many ways.

The kid, the thing, whatever in the container behind them all, had its eyes open, and it was glaring straight at every single thing with enough fury to command Lightning.

"So I'm finally awake." It said, in a somewhat ethereal voice. "And this is what I wake up to?"

The voice was muted and distorted from the liquid it was in, but it still sounded like a deity was lowering himself to speak to them. Yami wanted to fall down on his knees and cry for forgiveness, anything not to induce that wrath. He had no clue how he managed to stay standing.

Seto Kaiba stiffened, drawing Joey's unconscious body closer to him. "I'm not you, _I'm not you, __**I'm not you**_**…" **He chanted, his blue eyes the same as the thing in the container's.

"No. You're not." It said sternly, turning back to everyone else in the room. "And then there's you. What have you done to my brother?"

He must mean Mokuba, there was really no other option. That's where his eyes went, and Yami followed those eyes back to Miho and the limp boy she held.

Mokuba stirred in Miho's arms. She glanced down at him, and back towards the creature. She was lost for words, which made sense. She didn't have Tea or anyone else to rely on. She knew her own innocence, though, and Yami trusted her not to do anything stupid.

"We never hurt him." She declared. "There was a man, wrapped in dark robes. He shot him with a dart, filled with some sort of drug. He's not hurt, just blacked out."

The thing seemed to accept this as a reasonable answer. Its eyes went dead for a second, and then relit with life. It was like watching it die, and then revive. Yami felt the urge to run, because it was too human to not be human, and too inhuman to be human.

It was horrifying.

"I watched the security camera tapes just now, you're not lying to me." It explained. "I suppose then, that introductions are necessary."

"I'm not you!" Kaiba repeated, his own blue eyes which looked mirror to the things glaring at the floor. Yami didn't know what was wrong with him, except that he was sure he was in some sort of crazy haze. He didn't seem aware of any of his surroundings.

"Of course not. You were meant to replace me." It said again, before turning back to the rest, who were all staring on in confusion. "Forgive it, it doesn't know its manners. My name is Noa Kaiba, and I'm the original."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there you have it. Chapter 7 was slightly shorter this time, but hopefully you enjoyed it, and see! You didn't have to kill me after all. D<strong>

**There should be about two more chapters left or so. One in which there is the stereotypical villain soliloquy, and then the ending. There may be a sequel if you guys love me and review enough or something. There may not be a sequel. I have sequel opportunity, but you guys have to tell me if you'd really want one or not. In my opinion, a good ending would work out just as well if not better. I like finished stories, and who knows if I'd ever really finish the sequel or not. *shot***


	8. Chapter 8

**Forgive me, but this is the last chapter. I didn't expect it to be, but it was. I love you all anyways. Sorry, I've decided that I won't do a sequel. This just wasn't good enough or popular enough for me to consider it. So, just in case you wanted one, you won't get one. Really sorry about that, but... no one really cared enough and I think one story ended is better than two stories unending, right?**

**So, enjoy this last chapter!**

* * *

><p>"Forgive it, it doesn't know its manners. My name is Noa Kaiba, and I'm the original."<p>

Bakura stared at it, the pieces slowly coming together in his mind. But he didn't want to speak up, didn't want to keep Noa from speaking his piece. Bakura could only know so much, and he was exhausted.

"What's an original?" Yugi demanded. Bakura didn't think that it sounded much like Yugi, but he might've been wrong. He was just so tired.

"Seto and Seth are my clones. I'm the real one, the human one." Noa answered, his tone infuriatingly superior. "Mokuba is my younger brother. Gozaburo Kaiba is my father. It's been a long time since I've been in this body… it's very weak…"

"How can you… who is…" Yami's body had an oddly Brooklyn accent as it spoke, which led to Bakura believing there really had been some body swapping going on.

"No worries, I'll tell the story from the beginning." Noa smiled, and it was the most disturbing thing Bakura had ever seen. That smile looked proper on the face of killers, on monsters, and yet it seemed to be Noa's real smile.

Noa cleared his throat. "Mokuba, my father, and I were all living happily, when my curse was discovered. Mokuba had a power, I had a curse. My curse, well, you can see it all over this body. I would slowly morph into a monster, one body part at a time. My hair turned green first, and to keep Mokuba or I from noticing it, Father would dye it brown again."

"A curse that turned you into a monster…?" Miho whispered, looking down at Mokuba. He wasn't waking, but he didn't seem to be unconscious. A desired sleep, a fear to wake? Bakura really didn't care, he could barely listen to what was going on around him.

Noa floated in his container, but his eyes seemed to brighten the more he spoke. The dead body gained more life.

"Then I grew scales, which I had to hide underneath long clothes. I grew a temper, and I began loosing my humanity on the inside and out. I could no longer eat anything but meat. My eyes could see in the dark, I could breathe underwater… When I started turning this white color, my father decided he had to put a stop to my mutation. I was to be contained." It was said with spite.

"But he couldn't loose his son and heir, so he started an expensive cloning program, while my consciousness was uploaded into the computer. Finally, they found the genes which contained my unlocked power, the power to control emotions, and the genes with my curse, which they removed in the cloning process. The first clone was imperfect but… Gozaburo didn't kill it. Seth remains, although not fully human."

"And the second clone." The inhuman blue eyes flew over the only other person in the room with the same color eyes, the leader of Kaiba Co. Seto Kaiba was clawing at his face, his eyes wide with madness.

"Seto was a perfect clone of me, without my curse. He had the skills to take over Kaiba Co." Noa laughed cruelly, watching the said man flinch. "But Seth wanted to prove that he was just as good as his clone, and so a competition was held. Seth and Seto were both to take out as many power and curse holders as possible, as after loosing me to my curse, he hated both with a passion."

Even with a son that had a power, and a son with a curse, his hatred went to those mutated by his own mistakes. That fucking bastard, Bakura thought. He glared at Kaiba, and then Noa, and then back to Kaiba. He didn't know what to make of this Seth/Seto thing, other than that he couldn't stand the fact that they were pawns in some dark evil game.

All this time, unawares.

"Therefore, since Seto had more power, Seth was pushed aside and labeled as useless. He had only killed off two power holders and one normal human with his powers compared to Seto, who had organized an entire movement against them."

"One normal human… what…" Tristan's face was red from anger. Everyone in the room, minus Kaiba and Noa, seemed disgusted with the truth that was spilling out. Bakura felt himself disgusted along with them. There was little time for this, but yet…

Yet this is the truth, and they needed to know it. They had fought to get here and stop this, and now they knew what this really was.

"Oh yes, he controlled a young boy into getting angry enough to kill his normal brother. He'd been hoping to have him kill his cursed brother, but it didn't turn out that way." Noa shrugged his demonic shoulders. "Who were those boys again? Touzoku, perhaps? It doesn't matter. Seth lost, and went to Egypt to perfect his skills. Seto remained and ruled the company."

That name… Bakura froze, his hands twitching. Touzuko. Bakura, Akefia, and Ryou Touzuko. It wasn't a coincidence.

"Me? You mean, Kaiba wasn't lying when he said that Malik had something to do with Akefia's death? You mean to tell me that Seth forced me… forced me to kill Akefia and then went to Egypt and used Mariku to kill Marik's father?" Bakura hissed. Oh, this. This was the icing on the cake.

Oh, fuck no.

"Bakura…?"

No, no, no, no, NOO! Bakura's fists clenched and unclenched, as he took the burnt body of his partner and laid him gently on the ground.

"Bakura!" Yugi shouted. "You have to stop!"

He stood up slowly, his body aching all over from his injuries and his heart beating slowly in his chest. The entire room was frantic, the entire room felt the tremendous energy coming from the albino in the center of the room.

A golden glint underneath his shirt flashed, as well. The millennium ring. What had Malik said again? That someone very precious to him and a monster corrupting it was contained inside, or something like that.

Bakura pulled it out from underneath his shirt, watching as all of the points were directed to a place directly behind him. He turned around, staring at a man completely robed in black standing in the entrance to the room. The albino simply tilted his head, a maniacal grin smeared on his face. He must've been a sight, blood soaking him and splatters of the liquid dripping down his cheeks.

The entire room smelt of burnt flesh and insanity. The ring was reacting.

The man didn't last a second. All of his energy was concentrated on him, and a great explosion rocked the entire building. The ring had fired.

Everything was white.

* * *

><p>White... everything was white.<p>

Who was he? Was he even awake?

No, he couldn't be. This wasn't awake. This was asleep.

But he felt free.

Like there had been a weight on his chest and it had left, and he swore he heard the sound of sirens and the cries of the people he loved, but he swore that his eyes were too heavy to open, his mouth too heavy to speak and tell them that he was fine. But he was fine, he knew that now. He'd lived, He'd made it through this. He'd lived.

He had lived.

Had everyone else lived? He really hoped so, because if they didn't then he'd have to go back. He'd have to change everything. Everyone else, they needed to live too.

"EVERYONE NEEDS TO LIVE!" He tried to call out. He didn't know if anything heard him. "I DON'T WANT A SACRIFICE!"

And then maybe he'd change something, subconscious like this. Maybe someone would read his thoughts, hear him, as he swore that it wasn't necessary. He felt like someone had heard him, and it was peaceful to think about.

"Don't worry." He told them, hoping they'd hear again. "Living is tough, but there's been enough darkness."

Did he really feel that way? Maybe he did, but he was stuck in the whiteness.

He felt as if he was trying to wake up, but then everything else felt dark and light at the same time.

He knew he wouldn't remember this when he woke up, either.

Everything was still white, but it was far calmer now.

He really didn't like white, Ryou realized, waking up.

It was the first time that Ryou had woken up without being choked by his curse. He smiled, realizing that it was because he'd come to terms with it. Maybe he'd wake up again, and fall back into his curse, but somehow he felt as if he'd broken it.

* * *

><p>"You did good, Bakura. My future, it was proven wrong for the first time. I'm so glad."<p>

Bakura blinked, the entire world fuzzy. He knew this feeling. This was the dream world, wasn't it?

"Ishizu lady. Malik's sister." Bakura snapped, sitting up. There would be no more head-in-lap-petting business, Bakura was no child and he hated it when people were soft with him. Ryou was allowed it, and no one else. Older sister of his partner or not.

"It's nice to see you in such spirits." Ishizu laughed, her blue eyes kind and soft. "We're not too far away from each other, now. Your attack was good; Seth had not yet secured my position. When you invaded, I was on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean. He could not use me. It was very lucky."

"God. What the fuck." Bakura slammed his fist down. "That stupid attack, we were pawns in that bastard's game and he forced us to… ugh. I feel sick."

"That's because you are." Ishizu looked around the dream world, her hands wringing themselves in nervousness. "You did something rash. I'm very sorry. But my time is up, I can no longer talk to you here. I was just supposed to wake you up."

"I'm dreaming, though." Bakura snapped.

"You're awake in the dream world." Ishizu stated back, before looking at an approaching figure. "Your visitor is here, but not to stay. Enjoy your time together. I'm glad you're okay."

She vanished, but the dream world stayed. Bakura looked around, before zeroing in on the approaching figure. He called out, rudely, "Who the hell are you?"

"Brother." The figure greeted him, pulling down the sweeping red cloak that covered his face.

Bakura couldn't believe it.

"A-Akefia?"

"Yep. Thanks for taking care of me for a while. I know you were supposed to help me, save my soul or something, but what you did is fine. I can move on now. I've dealt with my demons."

"In the ring, that was you?" Bakura said, still not believing his eyes.

"And a bit of Seth. Seth killed me by using you, so when my soul scattered and was caught, the bit of his power was trapped with me. I… I wanted revenge on him for using you and for killing me. I got it. I'm peaceful now, I promise." Akefia laughed, and Bakura noticed a bright red scar underneath his eye.

"Akefia…" Bakura smirked. "Dammit, you fucked me up."

Truthful words had never been spoken. Akefia's death had ruined his life. It was somehow like healing an old scar when Akefia had shown up, even if it was just a dream.

"I know. Sorry, little bro. And, good luck with your boy toy."

"…what?"

"I can't stay here much longer. Sorry! Thanks for everything and you're still a dick." Akefia laughed loudly, psychotically, and Bakura remembered who he always tried to emulate when he felt really alone. Yes, maybe it was time to stop pretending to be what he wasn't. He wasn't friendly, he wasn't kind, he wasn't Akefia or Ryou.

He had the rights to be proud of it, too.

* * *

><p>Bakura's eyes opened slowly, his entire body feeling heavy. He was in an entirely white room, and he heard arguing outside. It looked like he was in a hospital, from the scent of disinfectant and death. Bakura frowned, leaning his head to the side.<p>

Ryou's white hair and lithe form were laid on the bed next to him.

"Ryou…"

His brother's kind chestnut eyes were on him in an instant. "Bakura! You're awake!"

Bakura groaned, the noise was too loud and too much. What had he done? Had he over used his powers, somehow? What about Kaiba co? Seto Kaiba, Noa Kaiba, the friendship troupe? More importantly, actually, most importantly, where was Malik?

"I feel like I was run over by a fucking bus." Bakura croaked, and he tried to his best to glare at his voice box for betraying in such a manner. Dammit, he sounded horrible.

"Don't worry, that's just because you used too much power. You've only been out for one night, there's nothing to worry about. Everyone has some injury or another, and there's a lot of confusion. We'll need your help to sort it all out."

Bakura groaned. God, could no one do anything without him? Fucking wankers.

"Malik…" He muttered, hoping to hear some word about his partner.

"He's fine. He's in surgery right now, getting some skin grafted for his third degree burns, but nothing that won't heal." Ryou blushed. "Mariku was here earlier, and we talked. I don't know what's going on, everyone is very confused."

"Just…" Bakura squeezed his eyes shut and yanked out his IV. He felt a million times better just by being awake. He didn't need an IV in the first place, he was just tired. "Bring me to everyone and we'll sort things out then. I'm the leader here."

"One more thing, Bakura… did you have any dreams when you were unconscious? Any important dreams?" Ryou asked, his voice taking on a desperate edge.

Bakura tried to think back. Yeah, he was pretty sure he had. Always the good older brother, Akefia was, dealing with Ryou as well. Maybe now the two of them could move on.

"Fuck yes." He answered, before jumping out of bed. "Get me the sickies, I'm all healed up and we have to much confusing for me to sit on my ass all day. Truthful facts."

"Bakura!" Ryou called, before the older twin had gotten out of the door. Bakura whipped around, his eyes pinned on Ryou.

"…yes?" He grinned.

"Thank you. I don't know what happened back in there, but apparently, because you blew the top off of the building, a helicopter managed to bring everyone to hospital. Alive. It's nothing short of a miracle, really."

"I know, I know. I'm fucking amazing. Now I'm going to go be more amazing." Bakura headed out the door and into the hallway, where he spotted Duke Devlin and Yami standing side by side.

Duke Devlin spotted him first. "Bakura! Holy shit, you're alive!"

"Yeah, yeah. What's going on? I need to fix everyone up; you're all too lazy to do it yourselves."

Yami turned an odd shade of purple. "I have my curse still, not Yami's. I can't trade back with myself."

"So you're Joey. Where's your body? Let's get this soul swap fixed because really, it was the dumbest idea you mentally handicapped socially introverted losers could've though of. Ever." Bakura rolled his eyes, dragging a protesting Joey behind him.

* * *

><p>Miho crept into Tea's room, her lucky bracelet jingling. She sat down in her seat, next to Tea's bed.<p>

"Tea, I brought you some coffee with cream. How are you feeling?" She asked, placing the hospital tray on the table next to her.

"Thanks. I heard you did pretty great after I conked out! Seriously, who knew? I get the feeling that everyone's miraculous recoveries are due to your luck. That's pretty great." Tea beamed at her, and Miho blushed.

She brushed her long purple hair out of her face, before saying softly, "Can I stay here with you? Just a little longer?"

Tea tilted her head. "Of course. Why not?"

"I thought you were annoyed with being paired with me for the missions, when I can't even do anything right." Miho muttered, looking out the window instead. She jumped when she felt the other girl's hand grab hers, and squeeze it tightly.

"You do a lot of things right, Miho." Tea smiled at her. "I promise I'm not joking. And thanks for the coffee."

Miho blinked. If she was thanking her for the coffee now, what had she thanked her for earlier?

* * *

><p>Tristan felt a head laid against the mattress of his bed. It was rather late, who had come over and fallen asleep so quickly? He'd only fallen asleep a few seconds ago.<p>

His headache was still pretty bad, he'd been hit with falling timber as he tried to keep an iron bar from collapsing on the group after the explosion. He was healing remarkably fast, considering the situation. He supposed he had Miho to thank for that. He hadn't noticed her lucky on the mission, but it was coming in handy afterwards.

It turns out that the head belonged to none other than Duke Devlin. Well, there was something that Duke wouldn't admit to, even if he'd been caught.

Tristan felt a creeping smile on his face, as he patted his friend's head. It was good to be alive.

Duke let out a ridiculously loud snore, and Tristan shoved him off of the bed.

* * *

><p>Yami stretched his arms, before looking at Yugi's body. If felt weird being back in his body… it felt weirder to know what Yugi hadn't woken up the second he'd left his body. Being unconscious like that, Yugi would have to have some sort of brain damage or-!<p>

"He's alright. Don't be so impatient." Bakura said, cracking his knuckles. He'd put everyone back into place, but he seemed a little off himself. Maybe it was helping them, because he'd become somewhat colder towards them.

Not that Yami minded, he didn't think that after the destruction of Kaiba Co. that Bakura would want more to do with them than necessary.

"Same to you. Go make sweet love to Malik-" Yami was knocked over by a medical dictionary to the back of his head.

He supposed that making fun of Bakura hadn't been his smartest idea ever.

Shutting the door behind Bakura, Yami turned and sat down in the seat next to Yugi. Just a little while longer, he thought, squeezing the smaller hand in his own. Just a little while longer.

And he didn't have long to wait. Within the hour, Yugi's eyes fluttered open.

"Yugi?" Yami asked softly, leaning over to check if he really was awake.

"Hey..." Yugi smiled, "Is everyone okay?"

"Y-yeah..." He grabbed the boy's hand and held it gently. He'd been waiting, wondering, what he should say when his boyfriend woke up, what he would do, what would happen... but then he realized that whatever did happen, it didn't matter much because it meant Yugi was okay.

They sat in a comfortable silence. Sunlight poured into the room; it must've been almost lunch time.

"I apologize." Yami told him, putting their foreheads together.

"I never blamed you." Yugi answered, smiling brightly. It reached his eyes and Yami swore he had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life.

* * *

><p>Mokuba stopped short, seeing a green headed boy standing outside of his older brother's room. "Aren't you…?"<p>

The boy looked at him, monstrous white skin and glowing blue eyes and all, and waved. To Mokuba, it looked as if an alien had invaded earth and was now in front of door 364 in the local hospital. Mokuba was about to scream, when the boy tried to smile a bit, and he realized why this stranger looked so familiar.

"My name is Noa. It's nice to meet you."

"Seto told me about you… He told me about everything, really." Mokuba squeezed his hands behind his back, a mix between scared and guilty. "Aren't you my real brother?"

Noa let out a horrible little demonic sound. "Oh, no. Seto is your brother. I haven't been much of one, have I?"

"I meant like, DNA wise." Mokuba said, fighting the desire to run away screaming. Then again, finding out that your entire life has been a lie tends to do that to someone.

"Not that way, either. You share more DNA with Seto than me. This curse…" Noa squeezed his fist, the winter skin making a crumpling sound like a piece of paper. Mokuba thought idly that it would've made a wonderful scene in a horrible move. "The curse has changed my DNA. Plus, we were ever only half brothers."

Mokuba didn't know if it was a relief or a curse that he didn't share DNA with that thing. But he felt almost as if he wanted to. Just because if he'd been Noa, he'd want someone who couldn't escape from him somehow, who was always connected through something.

"Okay. You're not my brother." Mokuba decided. "But that doesn't mean I don't want you. Stay with us, okay?"

"…what?"

"You heard me!" Mokuba grabbed Noa's wrist, before dragging him away. "You're staying with us! We'll play loads of video games and you'll share my room with me and Seto will be your older brother too! No more of this stupid self-pity stuff!"

Noa smiled, although Mokuba couldn't see it. It was a real smile, one that didn't make his face look like a monster's. A real smile, the one of a child.

It didn't matter that Mokuba didn't see it, though. It'd probably happen again sometime soon.

* * *

><p>Joey rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. He'd been tired, going back into his real body. He'd woken up to find that he had new burns on his arms and his face felt all wrong. Stiff, like it was coated in corn starch or something.<p>

"Are you awake?" Seto asked, his voice quiet but deep. Kind of like a gentle rumble. The day was sunny, his boyfriend didn't have any more mind control, everything was good.

Joey thought about it. He'd known that Seto was being controlled. He didn't really have no emotions, he showed them easily enough. A man with no emotions wouldn't go so far to save his little brother. A man with no emotions wouldn't have broken so easily at the sight of Noa.

It was emotional control, it held all the same signs. Seto always incited anger, but Seth always incited insanity. Bakura killing his family was not anger, it was insanity. Not even anger could make someone that young kill someone they loved so much.

It was the same with Mariku. Killing his own father and hurting his older brother, there had just been something up. Joey had found Noa, and then he'd found the truth.

Seth might've stolen his face, but his mind had been fine. He wished he could've said something earlier, but everything had been so fast paced and he'd been so scared and the words just wouldn't come. Joey didn't know if it would've changed something, but if it did, then he'd never know.

"Yeah." Joey stretched a little, before curling right back up. "I was willing to save ya, ya know."

He had been. It might've started out that the 'I love you's were fake, but they didn't stay that way. Seto knew it, but he hadn't wanted to be saved. He must've known, right? Another thing Joey probably would never figure out.

"I know." Seto stroked his head a little.

"But he died instead, and I didn't get to say it. For real, this time." Joey grumbled. "After lying about it, when ya realize that the lie is true, don't ya want to say it again?"

A laugh rolled around in his boyfriend's chest. "I believe that's personal preference, mutt."

"Fuck off." Joey snarled, sitting up. A thought sprung into his head. "Hey, my sister's in this hospital. We should go and visit once we're not all burned up."

"Yes. You smell." Seto smirked.

* * *

><p>"Hey." Malik said, looking over at the albino who just walked in. Bakura looked like a mess, but it was still good to see him. It didn't relieve the pain of third degree burns, but it did mean that he'd meant what he'd said back there in Kaiba Co.<p>

It meant that Malik now had the time and the place to say something back.

"If you ever do that to me again, I'll let you kill yourself." Bakura snarled, his eyes flashing red.

"Eh… heh." Malik tried his best not to giggle, his lungs still scorched and painful. He felt like he'd taken a nice jaunt into the fiery pits of hell. "I don't doubt it."

The awkward silence fell over the both of them, until Malik crossed his arms and leaned back onto the pillows. He was upset with how everything went down, but not that upset. Really, he just felt pain. Enough pain that he'd agree that he really wasn't thinking straight.

Now that Bakura was here, it was time for him to move on and think about what was next.

"Have we heard anything much about Kaiba?" Malik asked, trying to think of any holes or things that could've slipped through their net and continued the fight even longer.

"Joey's with him. No idea why." Bakura positioned himself by the window, sitting on the air conditioner.

"What about… that thing, in the tube?"

"Noa?" Bakura raised a slender white eyebrow. "Right, you were already useless. Noa is the real son of Gozaburo Kaiba, and he's fine. The doctors can't reverse his curse, but it's been stopped for a long period of time so it's having problems restarting. He's running about being annoying."

Malik let a little raspy laugh escape his lungs. "I guess we have nothing to worry about there. Relaxing, I'm not used to even thinking about it. So what's next?"

"As much as I hate to say it, school."

"School?" Malik stared at Bakura, looking for the lie. Really, school? When they had spent so much time trying to save all the power and curse holders and then the government finds everything out, just to send them back to school? Really?

Bakura nodded, grinning. "Yeah. They're still determined to turn us into decent, intelligent human beings. They want us all to return to school as soon as possible."

"I really can't imagine why." Malik exercised his sarcasm, his tone dry and his eyebrows cocked.

It must've looked off, because Bakura kneeled over laughing. Or snickering. Really, it sounded far more like snickering.

Once he'd regained his posture, Bakura looked over at Malik with a far more serious face. "I can. I've spent a long period of time hiding myself. I didn't learn anything. It's time for me to go back, and ya know, figure out what the hell I can do. Seto Kaiba too, they're sticking him with us."

"That bastard is going to our school? Ugh!"

"I feel like I suddenly stopped being 15 and now they're restricting me down to my real age again." Bakura tapped his foot against the air conditioner, making a dull metal sound. It did it again, probably just for kicks.

"I feel like I have ground Trinidad Moruga Scorpion poured down my throat." Malik whined. It was probably the fact that the inside of his lungs had been burnt, or maybe the fact that Bakura didn't seem to be in any pain at all, but he felt twice as awful as before.

Perhaps it was the fact that he didn't have to worry if he showed pain anymore, it wasn't like Bakura would use it to his advantage.

"What?" Bakura snorted.

"It's the world's hottest brand of chili pepper." Malik told him, remembering that not everyone spent useless hours of their time trying to eat spicy foods that might have reminded him of home.

"I don't even want to know why you know that."

"Not really." Malik grinned brightly. "Now come here, fluffy! I need proof of your love."

The look Bakura made really should've been photographed.

* * *

><p>"Drinking tea is for British wankers!"<p>

"Bugger off." Bakura did a little wave, and the upper classmen who were bugging him flew off into the direction of the rubbish bins. Because they weren't trash cans, because Bakura was a proud British wanker.

Since when has Bakura ever taken anything laying down? Ryou sighed. Another school year, another round of punks who thought that messing with the top dog of the school was a good idea.

Ever since they had gone back to school, life had been like this. Bakura ran the school with an iron fist, Ryou was constantly trying to save his reputation as nice and kind (when half the school knew he had almost killed someone with a gun, they didn't let one forget it).

"Does school never change?" Ryou sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"It does change, snowball." A voice dropped in, as arms encircled the little albino. Bakura glared over at them, but Ryou just blushed bright red.

There was only one person who'd do such a thing. It just so happened to be his boyfriend, and Ryou remembered that yes, everything had changed last year. For the better, Ryou thought as he chirped cheerfully, "Hello, Mariku!"

Malik, who trailed around with his twin just like Ryou did with Bakura, appeared out of nowhere as well, springing a hug on Ryou's forever angry brother. They had both been better behaved since their older sister had moved in with them, but occasionally in all four of them, they could tell from each other's haunted eyes that they would never really forget.

"Get off me." It was said with so much spite that an outsider wouldn't have believed they were really dating. Bakura removed his twin, before biting him somewhere on the neck area. He thought it was amazing that Malik didn't even blush as he waved hello to Ryou.

"So. World takeover." Malik grinned evilly, bringing a black notebook out of his pocket as he began to talk to Bakura about all the evil things they would most likely do after they graduated.

Oh. World. They were coming.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading! Thank you everyone who favorited, reviewedcommented, story-alerted this and I love you all! I'm sorry this ends so quickly, so unexpectedly. I've only ever finished two longer stories, and this being the second one, I'm still not good at it. I hope you like it anyway, and I'm sorry for the general creepiness this was.**

**Oh, before I forget, I LOVE YOU ALL.**


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